Terence Crawford is a heavy favorite heading into Saturday’s fight with Haitian boxer Dierry Jean but despite the odds, the undefeated American boxer still cannot take Jean for granted.
Crawford holds a 26-0 record, 18 of them via KOs. Crawford will be looking for win 27 which could also be possibly his 19th knockout win.
Jean is entering the last fight coming from a loss. He lost to Lamont Peterson last January, 2014 and has since made a slide down to lightweight.
This is seen as a factor that could go against the 32-year-old boxer who bit the offer to fight Crawford since it was something pretty hard to pass up.
This will be Crawford’s first official title defense for the WBO super-lightweight belt, something that will be shown via HBO from the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska starting at 6:30 p.m. PT.
Other than his upcoming fight however, Crawford’s name has been mentioned in headlines recently as one of the next potential opponents for returning Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao in early 2016.
Crawford’s name was in the mix together with Timothy Bradley Jr. and current frontrunner Amir Khan. Another name that was originally included was Argentine pug Lucas Matthysse.
Matthysse was struck out of the list following a surprise KO loss to Ukrainian Viktor Postol. And if Crawford is wise, he may want to learn from that debacle.
At that time, Matthysse was a favorite over Postol. But it seems that talks about a potential clash between him in Pacquiao in 2016 served more of as a distraction than anything else. And looking ahead too early cost him, not only a KO loss but a sure shot at boxing fame.
Crawford is of course a lot different and has been wowing everyone with his fighting style. It seems hard to imagine Crawford losing to Jean though nothing is definite. In short, Crawford has to put his head into the match above anything else and think of that opportunity to fight Pacquiao after disposing of Jean.
Pacquiao, who is expected to announce his opponent either by November or December, will be among the spectators for the Crawford vs. Jean setto. But the decision may not yet be made there.
Remember that another candidate is Timothy Bradley Jr. who fights Brandon Rios just a week after (November 7). So depending on who among them would be impressive plus Khan in consideration could more or less determine who Pacquiao fights in 2016.
That said tiff is said to be Pacquiao’s last hurrah as he shifts his attention to the world of politics. Pacquiao will be running for a senate seat in the coming May 2016 elections in the Philippines.
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