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Terence Crawford: The Quiet Man
By: Sean Crose
Boxing is looking for a big star – one that can fill the void left by Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. Sure, those guys may return to the ring in some form or other, but the truth is that their best days are most likely behind him. Someone has to step up and be the new face of boxing. People had said the throne was Canelo Alvarez’ to sit on, but Canelo has been on the fast track to a diminished reputation as of late. As for middleweight terror Gennady Golovkin – well, he’s got a major fight with Kell Brook coming up, but many in GGGs weight class are clearly unwilling to face the guy in the ring.
One of the more unlikely contenders to be boxing’s top attraction, however, is a junior welterweight from Nebraska. He’s undoubtedly one of the more talented of boxing’s rising stars, but the young man’s quiet personality may keep him from being the kind of celebrity modern America craves (mouthy Adrien Broner and equally mouthy Tyson Fury fill that bill nicely). Yet it’s good to remember that there have indeed been fighters who weren’t blabbermouths who still managed to capture the public’s attention. Jack Dempsey comes to mind – as does early era Mike Tyson.
And Terence Crawford, who possesses the WBO super lightweight title, along with a sterling 28-0 record, might have the makings to be one of boxing’s great quiet men. For while the 28-year-old is soft spoken, his fists are loud as cannons. Just ask Yuriokis Gamboa, who gave the cornhusker a hell of a fight. Just ask Ricky Burns, who Crawford travelled to across the ocean to beat in Burns’ home country of Scotland. Just ask Henry Lundy, Crawford’s last opponent, who was stopped in no less an iconic location than New York’s Madison Square Garden.
And just ask Viktor Postol, the extremely capable Ukrainian who Crawford will face on a pay per view event in Las Vegas on July 23’d. Like Crawford, Postol boasts a perfect 28-0 record. Postol also has enough of a skill set that it’s no guarantee that Crawford will pull off the victory this time. Make no mistake about it, Crawford-Postol is an excellent matchup. It’s doubtful the fight will be a big pay per view hit, however. Why? Because in all honesty, this bout would be better served on regular HBO. Neither Crawford nor Postol has reached pay per view levels of popularity, after all. The winner may well be on his way to reaching that pinnacle, though…which means the quiet man may indeed make it big solely by virtue of letting his gloved fists do the talking.
Imagine that.
