Crawford vs. Postol is a battle of boxing’s best

By Jesse Granger

Friday, July 22, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Boxing fans will witness something rare this weekend.

In a sport with 17 weight classes and at least four major governing bodies, it’s not easy to get the best boxers in the world at a given weight to fight each other. But that's exactly what will happen when No. 1 ranked super lightweight Terrence Crawford (28-0-0, 20 KOs) takes on No. 2 Viktor Postol on a pay-per-view card that begins at 6 p.m. Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

“You get the best two guys fighting each other, the winner comes out as the best in the division and unfortunately in boxing we don’t get that a lot,” said Carl Moretti, the Vice President of Boxing Operations at Top Rank. “So you have a unified champion who is clearly the best fighter in the division and I think what you’ll see is a lot of talk about Terence being in the top three pound-for-pound after this, because of the accomplishment.”

Both Crawford’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) belt and Postol’s World Boxing Association (WBA) belt will be on the line this Saturday, giving the winner sole possession of the two most important straps in the division.

“I just want to fight and be recognized as the best in my division. That’s it,” Crawford said. “So if going through Postol means that’s how I get there, then so be it. But from the standpoint of my division, I want to fight all of them, until I move up.”

Crawford has been on a tear recently with three straight knockout victories over Thomas Dulorme, Dierry Jean and Henry Lundy. The Omaha, Nebraska native could vault into major stardom with a fourth.

“I feel, all around, I can do whatever I want in there,” Crawford said. “If I have to box, I box. If I have to brawl, I brawl. If I have to trade, I trade. In those types of fights, I have the power to back you up. All in all, I feel like my IQ is what takes me to the next level.”

But Postol is no pushover. The Ukrainian born “Iceman” is now fighting under Freddie Roach, one of the most respected coaches in boxing history.

“Every training camp that I'm here, I'm getting more serious,” Postol said. “I'm getting more power, more speed, learning new combinations with Freddie. Overall, improving in every fashion.”

After winning seven of eight fights by unanimous decision from 2011 to 2013, Postol has knocked out two of his last three opponents. He's looked improved in the ring behind Roach's idrection.

“We pretty much prepare for everything,” Roach said. “I study a lot of tape and I watch for a lot of his mistakes and his habits and so forth and things we can take advantage of and we work on that very hard and that’s why Viktor is 100 percent ready for the fight.”

Postol has used one of the stiffest jabs in the sport to keep his opponents on the outside in recent matches. He will have a 3-inch height and reach advantage over Crawford, but Crawford believes that won’t come into play.

“It’s funny how all of the people are giving Postol all of the credit for his jab but nobody is talking about how good my jab is,” Crawford said. “So I’m loving it. I’m loving it how everyone is talking about how good his jab is.”

With the two undefeated champions facing for the first time, even Postol isn’t sure how the fight will play out.

“It’s hard for me to predict but I think that both of us want to fight and we are both champions and both of us are going to be aggressive and both of us want to win by knockout,” Postol said. “I think that will make this a very aggressive and exciting fight. It may go from a chess match to a brawl and back.”

But while this match certainly determines the best 135-pound fighter in the world, neither Crawford nor Postol is as recognizable as many think they deserve.

With a victory by either man on Saturday night, they may get the opportunity to change that.

Moretti, and many others, have speculated that the winner of this fight could get the next shot at Manny Pacquiao, who has trained under Roach for 15 years.

“It would be very difficult to go against (Pacquiao) of course, but you know Viktor is a very good fighter also and I’m not sure if Marvin [Somodio] would be his chief cornerman or not – but Marvin being a Filipino maybe not, we’ll see,” Roach laughed.

But amidst all of the unpredictability surrounding this fight between Postol and Crawford, Roach is confident in his fighter coming out with the win.

“You know Terence Crawford and the University of Nebraska have one thing in common,” Roach said. “Nebraska is in the Big 10 and on the 23rd; Crawford is going to get the Big 10-count from the referee.”

Jesse Granger can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Jesse on Twitter at twitter.com/JesseGranger_.