Postol's Manager Confident of Another Shocker With Crawford

By Yuri Tarantin

Vadim Kornilov, manager of  WBC junior welterweight world champion Viktor Postol (28-0, 12KOs)  of Ukraine, expects a very big upset when his fighter face WBO champion Terence Crawford (28-0, 20 KOs), a two-division world champion who has won four of his last five bouts by knockout, in a junior welterweight unification.

The fight takes place on July 23, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.  The show will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT.

Crawford is viewed as the next superstar of the sport and was given the pay-per-view platform by Top Rank to begin the next level of his rising career. Postol is coming in as the underdog.

Kornilov says his fighter gains motivation from the underdog brand, as he did against Selcuk Aydin and Lucas Matthysse.

There were many who predicted a knockout victory last October for Matthysse, but Postol did the unexpected when he knocked out the iron-chinned Matthysse. The same scenario took place when Postol stepped in the ring with Aydin.

"I think that Victor is only an underdog in the eyes of the fans.  If you look at his career, the previous battles on his record, his experience, he could objectively be considered the favorite. I'm positive Victor will surprise the audience once again, as he's repeatedly done in previous fights," Kornilov said.

"The only thing that will be on the side of Crawford, giving him the advantage, is the location of the fight - as any state in the US can be considered his home ring. But this is not the first [where Victor fought on American soil] and I believe that Victor will not experience any difficulties with this [aspect of the fight]."

Yuri Tarantin covers boxing for Allboxing.ru