By Sean McDaniel: New British lightweight champion Anthony Crolla (20-2, 8 KO’s) could find himself facing former WBA light welterweight champion Gavin Rees (35-1, 16 KO’s) on the undercard of the title fight between WBA Super World light welterweight champion Amir Khan vs. Paul McCloskey on April 16th at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, England. Promoter Ricky Hatton may assist in making the Khan-McCloskey fight a bigger seller in the M.E.N Arena by having Crolla, a Manchester fighter, be put on the card to help draw more fans from around the Manchester area to the fight.

Crolla, 24, recently stopped John Watson in the 9th round on February 12th to capture the vacant British lightweight title. Crolla, who stopped Andy Morris in the 7th round in October 2010, said this about a possible fight with Rees in an article at the Middleton Guardian – menmedia.co.uk: “It would be a privilege to fight Gavin Rees. He’s a former world champion. It’s great to be linked with those types of names. It’s exciting times.”

Rees just happened to be in the crowd at Crolla’s fight with Watson last Saturday night at the Olympia, Liverpool, Merseyside. Rees would be a very tough test for Crolla and perhaps a step too far, because he’s a lot stronger than Watson and Crolla wouldn’t just be able to walk him down the same way he was doing with Watson all night long. Rees is strong and only been beaten once in his career to light welterweight Andriy Kotelnik. Crolla’s power won’t be as impressive against Rees, who’s used to fighting stronger guys.

Crolla walked Watson down last Saturday night, pressuring him constantly and getting the better of him during most exchanges. Watson landed a lot of shots, but he just didn’t have the power to slow Crolla down. In the 9th, Crolla backed up a tired Watson to the ropes and landed a crushing right hand that sent him down on the canvas. He was then checked over by a medical team and brought to his corner.

In a fight between Rees and Crolla, we might be seeing the same kind of fight as last Saturday, except with Rees dominating and Crolla getting pummeled. I’d be surprised if Crolla takes this fight.