Unbeaten star in the making Terence Crawford will look to put his recent legal troubles behind him as he gets ready to take, arguably, his toughest fight thus far in Viktor Postol on July 23rd at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas. WBO junior-welterweight champ Crawford turned himself into police last week on charges including theft of services and criminal mischief, which occurred at an auto shop earlier on this month. Crawford is no bad guy and he was released the same day he turned himself in.
Bob Arum, in speaking to RingTV.com said he doesn’t think the legal issues will have any impact on the Postol fight. Arum said the fight – a pay-per-view headliner that will also feature new WBO 168-pound champ Gilberto Eamirez against a TBA along with two unspecified bouts Arum is working on – has been agreed to by both sides, and that an official press conference will announce the fight on May 10th.
“The terms have been agreed to. It’s a terrific fight,” Arum said.
It’s also a potentially tough one for both fighters. Postol, also unbeaten and the WBC 140-pound champ, is coming off that big upset stoppage win over Lucas Matthysse in October. The 28-0(12) Ukrainian holds other good wins over names like Henry Lundy (last seen being crushed in five by Crawford), DeMarcus Corley and Selcuk Aydin and, as is the case in most of his fights, he will hold significant height and reach advantages over Crawford.
Crawford though, who is the younger man by four years at 28, really does look like a special fighter. Postol is a fighter he could likely have easily avoided, but Crawford, 28-0(20) and already a two-weight champion, has that old-school mentality about him, in that he will take on all comers. Fine fighters like Yuriorkis Gamboa, Ricky Burns and Raymundo Beltran have all been dealt with in style and Crawford might make another statement and move up the pound-for-pound ladder with a dominant win in July.
Postol is not a huge puncher but he hits hard enough, he is pretty fast and he has those long levers. Crawford might have his work cut out figuring Postol out in the first half of the fight, but his talent will surely shine though in the bout’s second half. Look for Crawford to win a decision in taking away another fighter’s unbeaten record.