By Jim Dower: unbeaten WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford (29-0, 20 KOs) boxed his way to a very, very boring 12 round unanimous decision over WBC 140lb champion Viktor Postol 28-1, 12 KOs) on Saturday night to win Postol’s WBC belt at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final judges’ scores were 118-107, 118-107, 117-108.
Crawford knocked Postol down twice in round five in flash knockdowns in which Postol’s gloves touched the canvas.
This was easily the most boring fight I’ve ever seen at light welterweight. Those fighters are usually quite talented and aggressive. While Crawford did look talented, his running around the ring all night was just plain off putting. For $59.99 on HBO PPV, I expected a lot more. Paying to see running like this was stomach turning. I hope Crawford’s promoter Bob Arum has a long talk with him to try and convince him that he needs to be more like Gennady Golovkin if he wants to be the next star in the sport.
Postol, 32, lost a point for hitting Crawford with a punch to the back of the head in round 11. Crawford had done the same thing in round three without referee Tony Weeks taking a point off. It was one of those kinds of fight unfortunately for Postol. He couldn’t get a break.
The fight was incredibly boring to watch, as Crawford chose to circle the ring for the entire fight rather than pressing the attack. Crawford spent most of the fight waiting for Postol to initiate so that he could counter him when he missed. It was the typical counter punching type of fight. When Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought like that, he at least hand the speed to land pot shots, and he was willing to stand in the pocket and fight. Crawford didn’t do much of that tonight. He was too busy moving and making it boring.
“It’s whatever,” he said. “I let my coaches handle that. I’m looking for the biggest and best fights to get me to that next level. I’ll fight anybody,” said Crawford.
Crawford may have to fight anybody because his promoter Bob Arum likely won’t get Pacquiao to fight a runner like Crawford after tonight’s fight. You can forget about Arum matching Crawford against non-Top Rank fighters like Adrien Broner, Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Lamont Peterson, Felix Diaz, Errol Spence Jr or Shawn Porter. I think it would be a bad idea for Crawford to fight most of those guys anyway.
The fans booed Crawford in the 12th round due to him choosing to play it safe and run. He was sticking his tongue out at Postol and showboating, as if he had done a great job. He hadn’t. It was just a very boring fight to watch. In the past, Crawford’s promoter Bob Arum had talked about how super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux was dull to watch, but Crawford was far, far worse tonight than Rigondeaux ever was. Rigondeaux defeated one of Arum’s stars in Nonito Donaire in the past.
This was supposed to be the fight that earned Crawford a big payday match up against Manny Pacquiao. Personally, I don’t think Crawford earned that fight with this performance tonight because it just too safety first and BORING.
I can’t see boxing fans wanting to purchase Crawford’s fights on HBO PPV in the future if that’s what Arum plans on trying to do. I think the people that paid to see Crawford fight tonight won’t be doing it again in the future. If Arum is going to get people to pay to see him fight, he’s going to need to try and convince new people to see him that didn’t have the displeasure of seeing tonight’s fight.
If Pacquiao agrees to fight Crawford on November 5, then I feel sorry for him because he’s going to be forced to chase the guy around the ring all night long. Pacquiao doesn’t handle movement, because he’s not good at cutting off the ring. I don’t see this being a good style match-up for Pacquiao. if I was Arum, I wouldn’t do that to someone that made me so much money in the past. Pacquiao really helped Arum and his Top Rank stable by making tons of money for them. I don’t think it’s fair to Pacquiao to be stuck with a purely defensive fighter like Crawford. If Arum wants to match Crawford against someone, he should talk to manager Al Haymon to see if he can setup a fight between Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. or Keith “One Time” Thurman. Those guys are good at cutting off the ring against runners. They would attack Crawford to the body instead of to the head the way that the limited Postol was doing tonight.