HORN-CRAWFORD NEGOTIATION STARTS IF AUSSIE CHAMP WINS OVER CORCORAN
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 18 Nov 2017
Terence Crawford will witness the Jeff Horn-Gary Corcoran fight December 13 in Brisbane, Australia, together with promoter Bob Arum and his trainer Brian McIntyre. If Horn (17-0-1, 11 KOs) is successfull in defending his WBO welterweight title against the No. 10 contender Corcoran (17-1, 7 KOs), discussions will start on the possibility of holding the mandatory title defense Australia in the spring of 2018. This will be Crawford's first fight as a welterweight.
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Arum told BoxingScene if Horn wins, he will sit with everybody for the best place for the fight. ?Because, you know, one thing with the WBO, they will appoint neutral officials. And if the fight is in Australia, there will be officials from all over, but not Australia. And if the fight is in the United States, the officials will come from outside the U.S. and Australia. The problem we might have is Nevada, in which case we probably couldn?t do that fight in Nevada because they insist on using their officials.?
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Pacquiao?s controversial unanimous-decision loss to Horn in Australia is a cause of concern for Crawford. The 30-year-old Omaha, Nebraska native travelled to Glasgow and won the WBO lightweight championship from Scotland?s Ricky Burns in March 2014. He has not fought outside the United States since then. The Australian government could give a better deal, similar to that of Pacquiao, and could entice Crawford to fight there hoping to win a world title in a third weight division.
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Arum said Crawford is coming to the Lomachenko-Rigondeaux fight in New York on December 9. The next day, Crawford and Brian McIntyre are going with Arum to Australia for the Horn fight. Crawford and McIntyre will decide on whether they agree to do the fight in Australia. "We don?t have to decide until after the Horn-Corcoran fight. If Horn doesn?t win, we have options on Corcoran. Then we would pretty surely do the fight in the United States," concluded Arum.
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Deontay Wilder, in an interview with ESPN' Sports Nation, has made a promise to end the career of Joshua when they meet in the ring. ?Joshua, let?s make this fight happen man. This is one of the biggest, most exciting fights in the world history. We could make records, we could set history on the time of the fight whenever it happens," Wilder said. ?You?re ready to fight low opposition and get paid millions of dollars and you don?t want that gravy train to end, but I am the man that?s going to end your career.?
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IBF, IBO and WBA champion Anthony Joshua said talks have begun between the two camps and he told Dubai Eye 108.3 that he doesn't think the fight will happen if Wilder overprices himself. ?I am working on getting this fight done. Providing Deontay Wilder is true to his word this fight will happen in 2018," Joshua said. ? We have worked with all-time greats like Klitschko. We have managed to defend this title five times. If they are realistic about what they want, we can definitely make this fight happen.?
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On December 9, Vasyl Lomachenko (9-1, 7 KOs) defends his WBO world super featherweight title against Guillermo Rigondeaux (17-0, 11 KOs) in one of the most awaited matches in recent memory. The Ukrainian told ESPN that he has wanted to make this fight two years ago in another weight division when he was a featherweight and they made it now. "On December 9th it?ll be a great fight,? said Lomachenko. "I will try and show my best boxing and my best skill, this fight will be historic, this fight is important.
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?Rigondeaux is a top guy and one of the top pound-for-pound. For me it?s a big challenge," declared "High Tech." It's a big treat for boxing enthusiasts and fans from around the world who asked for it, according to Egis Klimas, Lomachenko's manager. "It is a historic bout for boxing where for the first time, two boxers, two world champions, each holding two Olympic gold medals, will meet in the professional ring. I am looking forward to seeing it." Tickets to the world title fight sold out two months in advance.
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ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas wishes the Lomachenko-Rigondeaux fight would?ve happened five years ago when Rigondeaux still was in his prime. Atlas considers age, activity and size to be the disadvantages Rigondeaux won?t be able to overcome when he challenges Lomachenko for his title next month. Rigondeaux is eight years old than Lomachenko. The Cuban has fought three combined rounds in two fights the past two years, while Lomachenko has boxed 28 rounds in four fights.
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"Rigondeaux has not been active at all and I think that has to weigh into your thinking, at least it does for me, when you?re handicapping such an interesting match of top talents," Atlas told BoxingScene. "The other thing is the age. I think if this fight would?ve happened five years earlier, maybe it would?ve boded better for Rigondeaux. The age and the inactivity and then the size, moving up in weight, I think that?s a little bit of an advantage for Lomachenko."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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