By Eric Baldwin: Unbeaten WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford has been sentenced to 90-days in jail for an incident that took place earlier this year in which the unbeaten champion removed his career from an automotive body shop in Omaha, Nebraska. The 29-year-old Crawford was charged with property damage and disorderly conduct.
It’s unknown how much of the 90 days Crawford will wind up serving. Crawford will be set to be released from jail by February, according to Fight News. Crawford’s lawyer could get him out of jail within a day on appeal.
Being out of commission for three months could be a problem if Crawford was in the Manny Pacquiao sweepstakes for a fight against him. However, it doesn’t look Crawford will get that fight yet. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has been talking about Vasyl Lomachenko as a possibility to fight Pacquiao and Jeff Horn. Crawford will likely need to take a wait and see approach to getting the fight against Pacquiao. Crawford’s jail sentence very likely won’t change what would have happened.
Crawford recently stopped John Molina Jr. in the 8th round last Saturday night on HBO Championship Boxing from the CenturyLink Arena in Omaha, Nebraska. It was a good performance from the 29-year-old Crawford in totally dominating Molina for seven rounds before stopping him with a flurry of hard power shots in the 8th. The performance may give Crawford the 2016 ‘Fighter of the Year’ honors.
Crawford has a lot of boxing fans that won’t be happy about him having to go to jail. Crawford is on his way to stardom, and he could be the next big star in the sport.
WBC will give Diamond belt to Carl Frampton vs. Leo Santa Cruz winner
The World Boxing Council will be giving their WBC Diamond belt to the winner of the January 28 fight between WBA Super World featherweight champion Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) and Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) in their fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Santa Cruz, 28, lost a controversial 12 round majority decision to Frampton earlier this year on July 30 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Many fans felt that Santa Cruz should have won the fight. However, the judges scored it 114-114, 116-112 and 117-111 in favor of Frampton. Santa Cruz had a rematch clause in the contract, so this is the reason why a rematch is taking place. Frampton’s management would have likely put him in a unification fight against IBF featherweight champion Lee Selby, as they’re both from the UK and the fight would play out big over there.
This should be a great rematch. Showtime Boxing will be televising it. With the Frampton-Santa Cruz fight taking place in Las Vegas, it will help Santa Cruz a lot more than the last time he fought Frampton. That fight was in front of a large pro-Frampton crowd in New York, which has a large population of Irish fans. It’s thought that many of them turned out to see Frampton and root him on. It was peculiar to see the visiting Frampton get most of the cheering the entire fight instead of the American Santa Cruz. Frampton is from Northern Ireland.
Dejan Zlaticanin vs. Mikey Garcia on January 28th. Winner faces Jorge Linares in unification
WBC World lightweight champion Dejan Zlaticanin (22-0, 15 KOs) will be defending his title against unbeaten former two division world champion Mikey Garcia (35-0, 29 KOs) on January 28 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The winner of the fight will fight WBA/WBC lightweight champion Jorge Linares (41-3, 27 KOs) in a unification fight, according to Lance Pugmire.
Linares was out of action for a long time. He was given a ‘Champion of Recess’ designation by the WBC. The 31-year-old Linares returned to the ring after 11 months to defeat WBA World lightweight champion Anthony Crolla by a 12 round unanimous decision last September in Manchester, England.
Mikey, 29, just returned to the ring last July after being out of boxing for over two years with promotional issues. Mikey defeated Elio Rojas by a 5th round knockout on July 30th. For Mikey to face a talented fighter like Zlaticanin in just his second fight back at being out of the ring for ages, it shows you the kind of courage he has. A lot of fighters would opt to take a number of tune-up fights before they faced a difficult southpaw like Zlaticanin, but not Mikey. He’s definitely showing a lot of courage in taking this fight.
The 32-year-old Zlaticanin recently won the vacant WBA lightweight title with a 3rd round knockout over Franklin Mamani last June. Zlaticanin beat Ivan Redkach by a 4th round knockout in June of 2016, and he also beat Ricky Burns by a 12 round split decision in June 2014.
Zlaticanin, 5’4”, is going to be a tough fight for the 5’7” Mikey Garcia. The one thing that Garcia has going in his favor in this fight is his height and reach. He’s three inches taller and has a three inch reach advantage over Zlaticanin. That’s going to make Mikey hard to beat. He’s also faster and has better punching power.
Never the less, Zlaticanin is a big puncher too, and he’s dangerous when he gets inside on his opponents. If Zlaticanin can take the fight to the inside on Mikey, he could nullify a lot of his power, because Mikey is a better puncher when he can get leverage on his shots. He’s not an inside fighter.
Francisco Vargas signs an option for rematch with Takashi Miura
WBC World super featherweight champion Francisco Vargas (23-0-2, 17 KOs) has reportedly signed an option for a rematch against former WBC super featherweight champion Takashi Miura (30-3-2, 23 KOs). Both guys will be fighting in Separate fights on January 28. Miura, 32, will be fighting Miguel Roman (56-11, 43 KOs) at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California.
Vargas, 31, will be defending his title against the hard hitting Miguel Berchelt (30-1, 27 KOs) at the same venue on January 28. Vargas beat Miura by an 8th round knockout last year in November 2015. Vargas was knocked down in the 4th, and Miura was dropped in the 9th.
Berchelt’s only loss of his career was to the hard hitting Luis Eduardo Florez (21-5, 17 KOs) in getting stopped in the 1st round in March 2014.