Honestly, I was disappointed with what I saw last night. The guy has good defense, appears to have a solid chin, is conditioned, and can fight out of two stances, but he throws way too many arm punches. His chin may take him a long way, depending on how good it is, but he's going to get countered with some hard shots over those arm punches at 140. Garcia, Matthysse, and Provo are going to cause him a lot of issues. Algieri's reach and movement could cause issues too because Crawford will have to come forward. Crawford has good defense on the back end, but not on the front end. When he throws a punch, his reach is his defense. If that gets nullified, expect him to take punishment. As far as his absolute power, I'm not sure. I know he knocked Gamboa out and he appeared like he had good power in that fight, but now I don't know if that had more to do with Gamboa's chin than Crawford's power. Anyway, some people were saying this kid would beat Pacquiao. Do you still believe that?
He won't fight Matthysse or Garcia as they fight on Showtime and promoted by Al Heymon. Crawford will outbox a Provo who has no boxing skills.
Provo does have boxing skills. You may not understand what he does in the ring, but just because you don't understand it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Provo utilizes his low center of gravity, where he bobs and weaves, and uses aggressive defense to get close to his opponents and throw combinations. That's a certain style. There are skills and attributes associated with that style. Provo even counterpunches as he goes forward. As he gets more proficient in that style, he'll start going to the body more and finding more opportunities to counter coming forward. Provo is actually a VERY VERY tough style for Crawford because Crawford leaves a lot of openings when he jabs. Provo also has a chin, so while he'll try to slip a jab to get in, if he does get hit, he'll still deliver a punch in the process. And I believe most fighters will tell you, Provo is not an arm puncher.
Crawford is a very good all around fighter. I think he gets hit a little too much but he's still growing and I'm sure he will address that. 140 is going to be a real challenge for him because the competition is a lot stiffer and the power is a lot heavier. I'd like to see him fight Taylor first as that would be a good barometer. I'm not expecting to retain his 0 but I do think that he will become a champion.
crawford is a very young and inexperienced fighter...but he has phenomenal talent. i hope he gets a couple of tune ups at 140 before he goes up against garcia or pac or whomever... the jww is very deep, but not as deep as it once was... garcia, pac and bradley are all very beatable....bud has the ability to rule the jrwelters just like he did the lw.
