Ruslan is slow as molasses when compared to Gamboa. He might actually be an easier fight than Gamboa.
Algieri and Bradley were successful when they boxed Provodnikov. Crawford would know better than to exchange with Prov.
I agree, he is a great talent but needs better a trainer. Top rank did a crap job of bring him along until Prescott ( luckily not as bad as GRJ who's talent has been completely wasted). I cannot remember if you openned my eyes to Crawford but I will give you the credit anyway, great call:thumbsup
Yes , they had some success . But it can be argued that Ruslan beat both of em . Whether Crawford wants to exchange with Ruslan or not , hes still gon get rocked .
That's just the thing , when has Provodnikov ever been an easy fight for anyone ?? No matter what style you put in front of him , that opponent gets put threw hell .
what defensive flaws are you talking about? i started watching him like 2 fights before the prescott bout and i would say hes very good defensively.
He was only with TR for a little over a year before he fought Prescott. From his debut in March 2008 until summer 2011 he was more or less a free agent bouncing around between small-time promoters.
When he puts his mind to it, yes he is, but when he gets lazy his defense is very poor. A fat, slow Angel Rios lit him up (although Crawford outgunned him easily - both shipping lots of leather) and even as late as Sidney De Siqueira he was getting hit with stupid punches. He made De Siqueira miss all his telegraphed headhunting singles, but whenever De Siqueira threw in bunches and especially when he started his combos on the body he found Crawford with a good peg or two. It was only when he began stepping up that Crawford bothered to button up his defense in full three minute efforts. Before that he would show flashy moves to make guys miss, sure, but also coasted for long periods with that upright stance on the outside and often didn't care about getting hit to land his own stuff on the inside. In his last five bouts he showed a lot more defensive responsibility than ever before, which means he is no fool and realizes the stakes are higher and that getting caught by world-class opponents is different from getting caught by journeymen and record-padding types - but the fact is, cultivating bad habits is a bad thing, and he did that in his initial four years in the pros.
I've been a longtime fan of Crawford, but have also just as long been skeptical of whether his stagnant matchmaking and inclination to get into brawls with lesser foes might have been unwise and come back to bite him in the ass in the future: http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?p=15945500#post15945500 http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?p=15417977#post15417977
judging by the way he handled prescott at 140 at short notice...i think he's going to clean up there. i'd like to see him fight rey beltran at 135. is there any other challenges at that weight?
He's spent more time as a southpaw in recent fights, and he's a lot better in terms of defense from the southpaw stance than from orthodox. Was he operating from the right against Rios/Siquera? Still, it should be noted that even in his fight with Gamboa was that he wasn't getting tagged clean, even in the first four rounds. Yuri could land, but Terence did a really good job of rolling with or moving away from the blows, even in the first couple of rounds. Once he switched, he started avoiding blows completely. So, I think his D is pretty solid at present. And it's likely to become tighter, as he continues his style metamorphosis from seek and destroy KO artist to measured counter puncher.