Crawford Schools Postol – Quick Wrap-Up From Vegas

Crawford Schools Postol – The MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada hosted Top Rank for an HBO pay-per-view that featured the 140 pound showdown between Terence Crawford (28-0) and Viktor Postol (28-0). Crawford entered the fight a strong betting favorite as he was making the third defense of his WBO world title, while Postol was defending his WBC world title for the first time.

From the start, Crawford appeared one step ahead of Postol. Using a great deal of lateral movement, Crawford controlled the distance and spacing throughout the fight. The third and fourth rounds saw Crawford become more confident. Crawford came out and scored a flash knockdown to open round five, and he followed it up with a second knockdown later in the round. From there, Crawford continued to execute his gameplan, and Postol could do nothing to close the distance.

Postol was never able to establish his jab, as he spent the entire fight frustrated as he lost every single exchange with Crawford that he engaged in. By round 11, Postol’s frustration led to a point being taken away for hitting Crawford in the back of the head to add to the route. In the end, the judges had it for Crawford by scores of  117-108, 118-107, 118-107. Crawford now holds two of the four major world titles at 140 pounds, and he will now likely consider an offer from Top Rank to fight Manny Pacquiao in November.

The vacant WBO world featherweight title is going home with Oscar Valdez (19-0) as he took out Argentina’s Matias Carlos Adrian Rueda (26-0). Rueda was considered a big puncher, and the fight was hotly contested for the first two minutes. Valdez seemed to hurt Rueda late in the round, and he came out and poured it on in round two. Rueda took a knee after a body shot for the first knockdown, and the referee waved it off after the second knockdown.  The stop came at the 2:18 mark for Valdez, who deserves credit for a command performance on the big stage.

Highly anticipated welterweight action saw undefeated Jose Benavides (24-0) facing Francisco Santana (24-4-1). From the start the two fighters fought head to head, as Santana was trying to keep the fight close with Benavides. Benavides, despite his seeming physical advantages, got himself caught up on the ropes while Santana worked the body. The fight fell into the repetitive pattern of Benavides choosing to fight off the ropes while Santana kept the punch count high throughout. Afterwards, the judges had it for Benavides by widely disparate scores of 100-90, 98-92 and 96-94.

The broadcast opened with light heavyweight action. Oleksandr Gvozdyk (10-0) got up off the canvas to defend his NABF title against Tommy Karpency (26-5-1). Karpency knocked Gvozdyk down in the opening round with a short right, but the undefeated Ukrainian weathered the storm and took command in the next round. Slowly Karpency’s face became a mess, with a broken and cut nose clearly affecting him. In round six, Karpency took a knee under Gvozdyk’s onslaught, complaining of an eye injury, and he did not get up to beat the referee’s count.

Crawford Schools Postol – Other Results from the MGM Grand:

147 LBS 10 RD: Leonardo Zappavigna def. Ik Yang by TKO 6.

168 LBS 10 RD: Ryota Murata def. George Tahdooahnippah via KO @ 1:52 of RD 1.

160 LBS 6 RD: Stanyslav Skorokhod def. Hakim Bryant via UD (59-53, 60-52,60-52).

147 LBS 6 RD: Edward Williams def. Christon Edwards via UD (59-55, 59-55, 58-56).

175 LBs 4 RD: Stephen Nelson def. Tim Meeks via TKO in RD 4.

Crawford Schools Postol. Check out the latest Boxing Rankings at the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.