I’m keeping a close eye on Crawford
TERENCE CRAWFORD is one of my top-five pound-for-pounders in the game right now.
The first we saw of the 29-year-old (top) in Britain was in Glasgow, three years ago, when he took Ricky Burns’ WBO lightweight crown from him in his own back yard.
Tonight, in Lincoln, Nebraska, he takes on Julius Indongo in a unification bout for the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO superlightweight titles. I’m looking at this from the perspective of Josh Taylor, who has just broken into The Ring’s top 10 lightwelters, and is No.9 with the WBC.
Assuming Crawford prevails, then Indongo could be a target for us as we make the next move, but it won’t be easy for the American. Indongo came out of nowhere to ambush IBF champion Eduard Troyanovsky in Moscow last December.
Troyanovsky identified the 34-year-old Namibian, who had left Windhoek only once and had never fought outside of Africa, as perfect defence fodder. But the bout was over in 40 seconds – a left hook bang on the button, and it was game over for the Russian.
Crawford will be 30 in September and is looking to secure his legacy. All the excitement for him is in the welterweight division, in particular a crack at Keith Thurman or Errol Spence. But he has to get past this fella first.
Southpaw Indongo will give him problems. He represented Namibia at the Beijing Olympics and is unbeaten in 22 as a pro. He’s durable, awkward and rangy. It is difficult to assess the quality of African fighters because the coverage is patchy, but he clearly has something about him.
Crawford is like Pernell Whitaker, only better. He fights at a great tempo, is a great puncher with more accuracy, power and flexibility.
As I write this, Josh is pounding the pads with Shane. Would we be willing to fight Indongo ourselves? It has to be a consideration as we work out how to take Taylor (above) forward.
I see Crawford taking his time at the start, having a look before slowly breaking Indongo down and seeking the knockout in the last third of the fight.
If it all pans out as I expect it might, things could be about to get very interesting for Taylor.