A rising
star in the sport of Boxing and really all combat sports will face similar
obstacles along their way to achieving superstar status in the eyes of both
fans and experts alike. As a fighter rises through the ranks more often than
not they will face opponents that range from fighters that are simply over matched
to those that are considered in their own right to be rising prospects, and
finally fighters who are considered legit contenders, who may have either challenged
for a world championship or have held a world title at one point in their
careers.
In the
case of undefeated two-division world champion Terence Crawford he has faced
all of the above. Crawford has thus far defeated every opponent that has been
placed before him as he has won all twenty-six of his professional fights and
has also won world championships in both the Lightweight and Jr. Welterweight
divisions in his career.
In his
last fight in April of this year Crawford moved up in weight to the Jr. Welterweight
division and scored a sixth round knockout over top contender Thomas Dulorme to
win the vacant WBO Jr. Welterweight world championship. As Crawford’s star has
continued to rise he has been tested against stern competition including Ricky
Burns, who Crawford defeated for his first world title in March of last year,
former Featherweight world champion Yuriorkis Gamboa, and longtime top
contender Ray Beltran just to name a few.
The next
test on Crawford’s road to stardom will come in the form of former world title
challenger and top contender Dierry Jean on Saturday night at the Centurylink Center
in Crawford’s hometown of Omaha, NE. Stylistically this fight pits two fighters
with similar styles against each other.
Much like
Crawford, Dierry Jean is a fighter who has a good mix of punching power and
hand speed as he has scored knockouts in twenty of his twenty-nine career
victories. Jean is a two-time North American Boxing Federation (NABF) champion
in the Jr. Welterweight division and has only lost one fight in his
professional career. Jean’s lone career setback came in his first world
championship opportunity against former IBF world champion Lamont Peterson in
January of last year.
Jean
however, has won four straight fights since that loss winning three of those
four bouts by knockout. In covering Jean’s fight with Peterson last year, this
observer stated although Jean came out of that fight on the losing end of a
twelve round unanimous decision, he was not disgraced in the fight and gave a
good account himself. The fight in my eyes could best be summed up as simply
one highly skilled boxer outworking another highly skilled boxer.
Even
though Jean was competitive throughout the entire fight with Peterson, Peterson
was able to take control particularly in the second half of the fight and it will
be interesting to see whether Jean will be more active in his challenge of
Terence Crawford’s world championship. One of the things that I feel worked
against Jean in his bout with Peterson was Peterson’s ability to use defense
and lateral movement to deflect most of Jean’s offense throughout most of the fight.
Although
both Crawford and Jean have similarities in style, it will be interesting to
see if the challenger can nullify Crawford’s offensive output during this
fight. Jean has to remember that he is the challenger and perhaps more
importantly he is a challenger trying to defeat an undefeated world champion in
the champion’s hometown. There have been fighters throughout the history of the
sport who have been able to be successful in would be enemy territory. The key
for Jean however, in this observer’s eyes will be whether or not he can find a
way to stand out convincingly from the champion in order to win rounds.
Crawford’s
ability to be a consistent combination puncher as well as an accurate counter puncher
is something that should not be overlooked and if several of the rounds in this
fight are close it will be interesting to see how the judges will score rounds
where neither fighter is able to stand out clearly from the other.
Although
there is always the possibility that a fight can end with one punch, this
observer believes it is more likely that this will be a highly competitive
tactical Boxing match and it may come down to who is able to land the cleaner
more effective punches and/or who is able to dictate how the fight is fought. There
is also a possibility especially given Crawford’s rising star status in the
sport that he might feel some pressure in wanting to look impressive not only
for what will be a pro-Crawford hometown crowd, but also wanting to make the
best case possible for himself for potential lucrative fights that might be in
his future. It will be interesting to see if either will influence how the
champion will approach this fight.
Both
fighters have hand speed and punching power. Each has demonstrated throughout their
careers an ability to not only hurt their opposition, but get an opponent out
of there should the opportunity arise.
A
storyline of an undefeated two-division world champion on the verge of stardom
in the sport going against a once defeated top contender, who is getting his
second opportunity at a world championship. On paper, it has the makings of a
hell of a fight.
“And That’s
The Boxing Truth.”
Crawford
vs. Jean takes place Saturday, October 24th at the Centurylink Center in Omaha,
NE. The fight will be televised in the United States by HBO Sports at 9:30 p.m.
ET/PT. In the United Kingdom and Ireland the fight will be televised by
BoxNation. Check local listings.
The Boxing
Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison All Rights Reserved.
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