TERENCE CRAWFORD has vowed to keep giving fans top-level fights ahead of his super-lightweight unification meeting with Viktor Postol on July 23.
Crawford will risk his WBO world title alongside Postol’s WBC belt at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, with the winner securing the No 1 spot in the division and a pound for pound ranking.
The two unbeaten champions are each on a strong run of form, which makes their encounter one of the most anticipated of the year, and Crawford feels it is what the fans deserve.
“I’m not worried if I am being avoided by anyone as long as I get to fight the best out there. In this business if you don’t fight you don’t eat,” he said.
“And the fans are smart enough to know a good fight. They are not about to settle for anything less. Why should they? They work hard for their money too.
“So if other fighters want to go hungry because they are looking for easy fights, that’s their business. But that’s not for me. I love this sport too much and I owe a lot to the fans who pay to see me fight. They deserve to see the best fight the best, which is why I am fighting Postol.
“We are two undefeated champions risking our world titles and our undefeated records to fight each other to determine the best fighter in the division. It’s the ultimate test. We both want to know who the best super-lightweight is and on July 23 we are going to find out.”
Crawford became a two-weight world champion when he picked up the vacant WBO crown against Thomas Dulorme last year and since then he has routed Dierry Jean and Henry Lundy.
He already holds a win over WBA super-lightweight champion Ricky Burns (which came at lightweight), while the IBF belt is held by Russian Eduard Troyanovsky.
Crawford’s trainer, Brian McIntyre, feels the top fighters at 140lbs are avoiding his charge, though rests assured that there will be plenty of big fights for the Omaha native.
“Everyone knows that most 140lb champions have avoided Terence. That is not a problem because our feeling is either fight us or get out of the game,” he said.
“Fighters are like buses. If one speeds off as you approach you don’t run after it. You wait a few minutes for the next one to come by. Terence isn’t chasing anyone. He only wants to fight the top fighters who are confident enough in their talents to meet him head on. And that’s what you’re going to see on July 23rd — a head-on collision between two undefeated world champions and the class of the 140 pound division.”
