By Jaime Ortega: Most boxing fans are excited about the much anticipated fight between Viktor Postol [28-0] 12 KOs and Terrence Crawford [28-0] 20 KOs, for the unification title at 140. Terrence Crawford should be favorite to win the fight via knockout. His bilateral movement, and his defense will present big problems for the Ukrainian to manage, who hasn’t fought a true boxer puncher with Crawford’s pedigree.
The Ukrainian has the potential to damage Crawford with his jab — but power remains the issue on his side because he has a low knockout ratio compared with the American boxer – Crawford will counter and attack Postol’s body till he eventually wears him out. Postol’s speed also possesses a big impediment to defeat Crawford.
Technically speaking, despite Postol’s size and reach advantage he won’t be able to cope with Crawford’s power, who will capitalize on his mistakes and punish the Ukrainian. I expect a knockout. Interestingly, what most people don’t understand is that the biggest fight on the 140 division has not yet happened, but will take place sooner than later.
There is hidden gem coming out of Russia who doesn’t get the attention he deserves – amazing amateur record and future boxing prodigy. His name is Eduard Troyanovsky [24-0] 21 KOs, and he is the future menace of the 140 division. His nickname ‘The Eagle’.
Studying tape on Eduard’s boxing ability and watching his fights, I can certainly assure he will beat and destroy everyone in his division – He has defense, reach, speed, aggressiveness, knockout power, accuracy and can box backwards on the inside and outside. He has a dangerous uppercut, and can ring shift without much difficulty – a technique commonly used in ex-soviet countries. His ring IQ is also high.
In his last two fights against former undefeated Cesar Cuenca [52-2-2], he not only dominated the Argentinian twice but completely outmaneuvered his game from start to finish in both bouts. Cuenca was so frustrated that he got stopped and quit the fight. The IBF championship had the Russian fingerprint written all over it, after he outclassed the Argentinian with a clinical performance. Cuenca was no ordinary boxer, he was on his way to surpass Floyd’s undefeated record, but obviously without facing the same quality opponents—yet his record is impressive and Argentinian boxers are good.
If Adrian Broner wants to elevate his legacy after losing key matches against Marcos Maidana and Shawn Porter, he should fight Eduard. Broner will likely be Eduard’s next victim and possibly get Knocked-out. Broner is not Floyd Mayweather, and he hasn’t fully sharpen his defense, which would make him liable for counters. It’s better for Broner to stay away from the Russian.
The possible Ukraine vs Russian clash, given the current geo-political turmoil in Eastern Europe would make Postol vs Eduard a classic bout. Yet despite all the hype, the Ukrainian wouldn’t have much of a chance and would get stomped by the Russian’s precise and powerful onslaughts. Postol gets stopped via late knockout. His foot movement is suspect and highly doubt he will permeate Eduard with his boxing ability. I expect a severe beat-down.
Terrence Crawford would ultimately pose the hardest test for Eduard. Crawford would try to counter the Russian with accurate shots and maintain a high-guard defense to stop his tempo. But it wouldn’t last long, unlike Postol who only uses the Jab to keep smaller opponents away; Eduard would use the jab, pound the breadbasket with body shots and use his powerful uppercuts to keep the American at bay. The Russians speed, accuracy, versatility, aggression and reach advantage would pose a serious problem for Crawford to stop – especially since he is the smaller fighter. Ultimately, Crawford would face for the first time a real boxer-puncher to lose via knockout, or UD.
Ultimately, the Russian is a monster in the ring with great boxing prowess. Just akin Vassil Lomachenko, Eduard Troyanovski has a repertoire of arsenal that makes him a great future fighter. It would be hard to set bets against him at 140.