Crawford released from jail on appeal

By Boxing News - 12/17/2016 - Comments

Image: Crawford released from jail on appeal

By Allan Fox: WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford’s stint in jail didn’t last very long. The 29-year-old champion has reportedly been released from jail after being incarcerated for 8 hours in Omaha, Nebraska.

Crawford was sentenced to 90-days in jail last Friday for a disturbance earlier this year at an automotive repair shop. However, Crawford’s lawyer appealed the verdict and he was released after eight hours, according to Fight News. His attorney posted a $10,000 bond.

Crawford will now be able to resume his boxing career and stay in the hunt for a big money fight against Filipino star Manny Pacquiao, who is promoted by the same promotional company Top Rank. Their promoter Bob Arum would like nothing better than to match the two together in 2017.

If Crawford can beat Pacquiao, he could take the baton from him and become Top Rank’s next pay-per-view attraction. But then again, Crawford could beat Pacquiao and remain what he is now, a popular fighter, but not someone that has the star quality that the boxing fans are looking for to purchase his fights in large numbers. Crawford’s fight against former WBC light welterweight champion Viktor Postol brought in only 50,000 buys on HBO PPV earlier this year in July.

Crawford may need to change his fighting style to become a little more fan friendly for him to become a PPV attraction in this era. The boxing fans had their fill of Floyd Mayweather Jr., and I think that the newer fans prefer to see guys that mix it up in the Pacquiao mold like Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, Roman Gonzalez, Sergey Kovalev and Saul Canelo Alvarez. Crawford has the wrong style to become a PPV attraction in this writer’s opinion. Crawford moves more around the ring than Mayweather ever did, and that’s the problem. He’s too mobile for his own good.

Crawford says he wants to unify all the titles at 140 before moving up in weight to welterweight. It’s going to be tough on Crawford when he does move up. Unless guys like Kell Brook, Keith Thurman and Errol Spence all move up to 154, Crawford might not have a place at 147 unless his promoters at Top Rank can keep the WBO title being passed down from one Top Rank to another in the next few years.

The WBO 147lb title is currently being held by the Top Rank promoted Pacquiao. Before him, it was held by Top Rank fighter Jessie Vargas, and before him it was held by Tim Bradley, who is also with the same company.