LAS VEGAS – The gloves were gold. Maybe, Terence Crawford’s future is, too.
Crawford at least put himself in position to collect some with a one-sided decision over Viktor Postol Saturday night in a pay-per-view junior-welterweight fight at the MGM Grand.
By the sixth round, there was little doubt about the fight or Postol’s chances and, instead, plenty of talk about how Crawford (29-0, 20 KOs) might do against Manny Pacquiao.
“Of course,’’ Crawford said when asked if would fight the Filipino Senator. “I’ll fight anybody, anywhere.’’
Crawford-versus-Pacquiao on Nov. 5 at Thomas & Mack Center, also in Las Vegas, appeared to be promoter Bob Arum’s plan all along during a week when he complained about criticism of his decision to offer the Postol bout on PPV television.
Crawford’s 118-107, 117-108, 118-107 wipeout of Postol (28-1, 12 KOs) might come to look like an investment in the future, if and when there’s an agreement with Pacquiao. The fight itself was forgettable.
Crawford’s advantage in speed baffled Postol, whose power was never a factor. In fact, Crawford’s speed appeared to the biggest reason for two knockdowns in the fifth. Postol stumbled to one knee in the opening seconds of the round. Still off-balance, he stumbled backwards later in the round, touching the canvas with a glove.
Increasingly, Postol looked baffled. Then, frustrated. In the end, Crawford mocked him. In the 12th, Postol began swinging for the fences in the desperate attempt for a knockout.
All the while, Crawford ducked, weaved, stepped to one side then the other. He was having fun, so much so that he stuck his tongue out at Postol. He also smiled at him and talked at him before claiming ownership of three pieces – The Ring, WBO and WBC – pieces of the 140-pound title.
Postol trainer Freddie Roach, who bet $1,000 to win $9,000 on the Ukrainian to win by KO, said he was surprised by Crawford speed. In the immediate aftermath, Roach, who also trains Pacquiao, didn’t want to speculate on what might happen against the Filipino.
“We’ll see what happens,’’ said Roach, who got a good look at gloves that said Crawford is more of the real kind than the fool’s variety.
Oscar Valdez Jr. joked that promoter Bob Arum was exaggerating when he called him the featherweight division’s next legend.
Maybe. But there was no exaggerating what Valdez did within two rounds in claiming his first major title Saturday night at the MGM Grand.
Valdez blew away Matias Rueda of Argentina scoring a second-round stoppage for WBO title vacated by Vasyl Lomachenko. Valdez (21-0, 18 KOs) finished Rueda (26-1, 23 KOs) with a left to the body for a TKO at 2:18 of the second round.
“A dream come true,’’ said Valdez (21-0, 18 KOs), a two time Mexican Olympian who went to school in Tucson. “I’ve been dreaming about this since I was six years old.’’
Valdez celebrated by dancing across the canvas. He talked about family and the future. He dedicated the victory to a cousin who died on a motorcycle. He talked about waiting to fight the great champions.
Next stop: Tucson.
Arum plans for Valdez to make his first title defense in the southern Arizona city where he first began to box. Possible sites are the Tucson Community Center and Casino Del Sol, maybe on Nov. 26.
His potential opponent is the winner of Miguel Marriaga-versus-Guy Robb on Aug. 27 in Fallon, Nev. The Marriaga-Robb fight is a WBO eliminator. The winner earns a mandatory shot at Valdez, a first-time champion and – if Arum is right – maybe a many-time champ.
Jose Benavidez Jr. was hoping for something spectacular. Maybe next time.
But the unbeaten Phoenix fighter (25-0, 16 KOs) got what he had to have, a victory in his welterweight debut with a unanimous decision over tough Francisco Santana (24-5-1, 12 KOs) Saturday on a pay-per-view card featuring Terence Crawford and Viktor Postol at the MGM Grand.
“There is only one guy I want and it’s Jessie Vargas,’’ Benavidez (25-0, 16 KOs) said. “He wants Manny Pacquiao. But he has to deal with me next.’’
Vargas was sitting at ringside, working as a television analyst. When asked about Benavidez calling him out, he said:
“Fine, come and get it,’’ Vargas said. “Let’s get it set up.’’
There were some boos when one-side scores were announced. Adelaide Byrd scored it a shutout, 100-90. Judge Kermit Bayless had it 98-92. On Glenn Feldman’s card , it was a reasonable 96-94.
“I landed the cleaner shots,’’ said Benavidez, who landed quick combinations in the ninth and 10th rounds, yet appeared to tire in the middle rounds when he leaned on the ropes, an old habit.
With the victory, Benavidez next bout appears to be on in Tucson on card that expected to feature Oscar Valdez Jr. in the first defense of his WBO featherweight title.
Oleksandr Gvozdyk was down. But not done.
Gvozdyk (11-0, 9 KOs), the latest in a string of East European imports, hit the canvas in the first round, stunned by a Tommy Karpency right that he never saw in the first fight on the pay-per-view card featuring Terence Crawford and Viktor Postol at the MGM Grand Saturday night.
Five rounds later, Gvozdyk , a Ukrainian light-heavyweight, was looking down at Karpency (26-6-1, 15 KOs), on his knees and finished.
Karpency, bleeding badly from a cut on the bridge of his nose, went down from a body shot, a right hand to the chest. He also complained about getting thumbed in the eye.
It was clear, however, that he wasn’t getting up. He stayed on one knee until the referee counted 10 for a Gvozdyk victory, a KO at 2:21 of the sixth.
The curtain went down on the non pay-per-view part of the Postol-Crawford card quickly. Definitively, too.
Japanese middleweight Ryota Murata dropped (11-0, 8 KOs) dropped George Tahdooahnippah (34-3-3, 24 KOs), Oklahoma’s Comanche Boy, with a body shot. Then, he rocked him with a succession of rights, forcing the referee to stop it at 1:52 of the first round.
Lenny Zappavigna traveled from Australia. Lianhui Yang came from China. They met at an international crossroads. No interpretation necessary. In the ring, everybody speaks the same language.
Zappavigna (35-2, 25 KOs) spoke it with more power, stopping Yang (18-2, 13 KOs) in the sixth round of a junior-welterweight fight Saturday on the Crawford-Postol card..
Zappavigna nailed Yang with two right hands, then rocked him with successive shots when the refreee stopped at 43 seconds of the round.
Edward Williams’ fraternity brothers barked. He provided the bite.
Williams (12-1-1, 3 KOs), a Detroit welterweight, had just enough of it Saturday against Houston’s Christon Edwards (6-2, 3 KOs) for a six-round unanimous decision that sparked a small frat party after the third bout on the Postol-Crawford card at the MGM Grand.
Stanyilav Skorokhod scored two knockdowns in the opening round and gestured at a fallen Hakim Bryant after the first, waving at him to get up.
Bryant obliged the Ukrainian middleweight, scrambling to his feet and giving him more work than he might have expected in the early moments Saturday. Bryant (6-1, 4 KOs), of Asbury Park, N.J., stayed on his feet for the next five rounds, stubbornly moving forward and into shots thrown by Skorokhod (11-1, 8 KOs).
But Bryant’s evident toughness wasn’t enough against Skorokhod’s 70-inch reach. The Ukrainian appeared to tire, but he had enough to win a lopsided decision in the second fight on the Crawford-Postol card.
It began with a TKO. But there was nothing technical about it.
Omaha light-heavyweight Steve Nelson (3-0, KOs) left Tim Meek (5-3-1, 2 KOs) of Canutillo, Tex., bloodied, bruised and overwhelmed with a fourth-round stoppage in the first fight on a card featuring fellow Omaha fighter Terence Crawford against Viktor Postol in a junior-welterweight bout Saturday night at the MGM Grand.
Nelson warmed up the ring for his fellow Nebraskan with a counter shot that dropped Meek with a thud that echoed throughout an empty building in a non-televised bout before the pay-per-view portion of the card. Nelson then bloodied Meek’s nose and opened up a nasty gash above one eye in the third.
Meek was tougher than his name suggests. But his corner had seen enough. Thirty-two seconds into the fourth, it threw in the towel.
