MASTER OF HIS TRADE
Crawford thrashes Diaz on his Madison Square Garden debut
CRAWFORD GENTLY AND REPEATEDLY PATTED DIAZ ON THE HEAD
THERE are multiple ways to define the degree of dominance that Terence Crawford displayed
against Felix Diaz in his debut in the big room at Madison Square Garden. The fact that just one of the three judges scored just one round for Diaz (Julie Lederman, who generously awarded him the second). Or the fact that in Diaz’s best rounds statistically, he landed a lower percentage of his punches than Crawford did in his worst. Or the fact that Crawford outlanded his opponent by 193 punches to 69, according to Compubox, and connected with fully 59 per cent of his power punches.
But the contemptuous ease with which the undefeated unified world super-lightweight champion from Omaha swept to victory was underlined by one brief moment in the 10th and conclusive round. Crawford backed Diaz into a corner, stretched out a long arm as if measuring him up for a stinging jab, and instead just gently and repeatedly patted him on the head.
It isn’t that Diaz, from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, is a bad fighter. Far from it. The 2008 Olympic gold medallist had previously suffered just one reverse in his pro career, and that was a contentious points defeat to Lamont Peterson in Peterson’s hometown Washington, D.C. But there is a difference between being a fighter who is good, and a fighter who is good enough to be competitive with Crawford. It isn’t at all clear who might fit into that second category; Crawford is clearly one of the very best boxers in the world right now, pound-for-pound, with the ability to box or brawl as the occasion requires and with the ring
intelligence to assess an opponent and break him down at his own pace.
Diaz certainly had his moments. A highly unconventional stylist, he all but eschews jabs in favour of winging power punches from awkward angles. He must be a nightmare to fight, and on a couple of occasions – a right hand that snapped back Crawford’s head in the second, a left into which the overly relaxed American walked in the seventh – he found his target. But his successes were few and far between.
After a scrappy opening couple of rounds – during which Crawford alternately sought to keep Diaz at range with a long, tapping southpaw jab, tie up Diaz in close, and find ways to evade his foe’s sudden onrushes – the Nebraskan found his timing and range. Most importantly, he found the punch he needed to break through the high Diaz guard and set up the rest of his attack: a left uppercut near the end of the third round, followed by another shortly afterward. Once that weapon was dialled in, the rest of his attack flowed from it, a variety of combinations that Crawford delivered without ever being out of position or placing himself unnecessarily in harm’s way. He was dominant but deliberate, sliding out of range as Diaz chuntered forward, never allowing the Dominican to get set, and then unleashing punches whenever he saw an opening.
Diaz opened up after landing that left hand in the seventh, but Crawford dug in, answered fire with fire, and got the better of those exchanges. After that, Diaz was on the retreat, landing just 18 punches in total over rounds eight, nine and 10, as Crawford walked forward and turned up the pressure. Referee Steve Willis thought about stopping the contest in the ninth; the ringside physicians, examining Diaz’s almost-closed eyes, considered doing so after that round; and trainer Joel Diaz finally brought a merciful halt to proceedings at the end of the 10th. Phoenix, Arizona-based Mexican
Ray Beltran scored a KO of the Year contender with a left hand that rendered fellow lightweight Jonathan Maicelo, of Callao, Peru, unconscious well before the back of his head crashed into the canvas. Referee David Fields did not even bother to issue a count. The official time was 1-25 of round two. The ending came as Maicelo was on the offensive, rocking Beltran with right hands after a wild opening stanza in which Beltran suffered an official knockdown that was in fact the result of a headbutt, and Maicelo appeared to touch the canvas following an exchange that continued after the bell to end the round.
Two 2016 Olympians looked highly impressive. Newark featherweight
Shakur Stevenson, who won silver for the U.S in Rio, ran his record to 2-0 and scored his first stoppage as a pro after referee Arthur Mercante Jnr called a halt to his contest with Buenos Aires’ Carlos
Suarez at 2-35 of the opening round. A lightning-fast left hand to the jaw and a cuffing right dropped Suarez.
Brooklyn-born Teofimo Lopez lost in the first round in Rio (representing Honduras), but looks to be far better suited to the pros; he looked sensational against Guatemala native Ronald Rivas, knocking him out with a left hook at 2-21 in the second round of their lightweight bout. Mercante was again the referee.
THE VERDICT
Crawford deserves a big-time matchup with the likes of Manny Pacquiao to showcase his abilities.