WHO WILL BE FIGHTER OF THE YEAR: CRAWFORD, LOMACHENKO OR WARD? PART II
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 27 Dec 2016
Terence Crawford is the favorite among the three candidates to win the Fighter of the Year honors. Crawford is ranked by The Ring as the world's fifth best boxer, pound for pound, and was voted Fighter of the Year for 2014 by the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA).
Crawford defended his junior welterweight championship on February 27 with an astounding fifth-round TKO of Hank Lundy before a sellout crowd of 5,092 at the Theater of Madison Square Garden. Crawford connected with 89 of 247 punches (36%), compared to 47 of 411 for Lundy (22%).
Crawford and Viktor Postol, both undefeated faced each other during the much awaited super-lightweight unification fight on July 23 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Both fighters climbed the ring with a record of 28 wins, no losses. Both boxers also fought at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the first time in their respective careers.
Crawford won by unanimous decision and unified two light welterweight world titles and also claimed the vacant lineal and Ring Magazine titles. Crawford scored two quick knockdowns in the fifth round, winning on all three scorecards 118-107, 118-107 and 117-108.
On December 10, at Crawford's hometown at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska he fought John Molina, Jr. who was four pounds overweight. Molina gave $400,000 of his purse to Crawford, and gave up his rights to challenge the titles.
Crawford defended successfully his titles in stopping Molina in the 8th round before a large hometown crowd in Omaha. Crawford was clearly dominating the out of shape Molina. In round 8, Crawford stopped Molina with combinations to the head and to the body causing referee Mark Nelson to stop the punishment. Crawford landed 184 punches out of 419 thrown, while Molina landed 41 of 287 thrown.
Other boxers considered by some American writers for the prestgious BWAA FOTY Award are Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez, Carl Frampton and Manny Pacquiao.
Photo: Terence Crawford (C) receives his WBO Fighter of the Year for 2015 plaque from WBO ratings committee chairman Luis Batista Salas (L) and WBO president Francisco 'Paco' Valcarcel.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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