Boxing Spotlight Terence “The Hunter” Crawford
Terence Allan Crawford, a.k.a “the Hunter,” secured the WBO lightweight championship in 2014 and with it, the prestigious ESPN Boxing Fighter of the Year award.
It was a tight race between Crawford and Sergey Kovalev, who had a phenomenal year as well. In the end, Crawford won out due to the spectacular performances he put on this year.
Let’s take a look at this up-and-coming fighter from Omaha, Nebraska, USA.
The first fight in 2014 for Crawford was held across the pond in Glasgow, Scotland against champion Ricky Burns for the WBO title. Crawford simply outboxed Burns, who was trying to catch up all night to a much faster and efficient fighter.
Official reported statistics show that over the last five rounds of the fight, Crawford landed 116 punches while Burns only landed 30. It was a stunning world class debut for a fighter with much promise in his division.
Once he won the WBO title, Crawford did something unprecedented in the sport. He chose to have his next two fights in his hometown of Omaha. Questions arose whether Crawford could even generate enough tickets sales to justify having two title defenses in a mid-size city in America.
However, Crawford silenced critics and was able to sell out the Century Link Center in his hometown for fights against Yuriorkis Gamboa and Raymundo Beltran. Although Crawford did not make Las Vegas type money with these fights, he showed how much he values his upbringing and giving back to his hometown.
In the ring, Crawford is a special breed of fighter because he is able to work well with both an orthodox and southpaw stance. He also uses his jab extremely well to set up his other punches like his powerful hook and strikingly fast combinations.
Both Gamboa and Beltran tried to keep up with Crawford but they lacked technical soundness and footwork, which cost them against the hometown hero. If you watch those two title defenses, you’ll be astonished at how fast and powerful this young fighter has developed.
Look for Crawford to move up in weight in 2015. The fighter from Omaha has stated that he will no longer be fighting at 135 pounds but instead is looking for potential opponents in the 140 pound range. There is speculation that Danny Garcia could be a possible opponent for Crawford, which would make for an incredible bout.
Keep an eye out for this up-and-coming fighter, Terence Crawford, who I suspect will have an incredible year in 2015.