Viktor Postol Motivated By Underdog Role Against Crawford

By Steve Kim

Just as he was when he faced Lucas Matthysse last October for the vacant WBC 140-pound title, Viktor Postol (28-0, 12KOs) finds himself as the underdog against WBO belt-holder, Terene Crawford (28-0, 20KOs) on July 23rd a the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

"It's only motivation for me that people don't believe in me and then I got into the ring and prove that I'm the best. So it's only motivation,"said Postol, who won the WBC strap by stopping Matthysse in nine rounds at the Stub Hub Center in Carson, California.

Now he faces the talented Crawford, who like him comes in with an unblemished mark of 28-0 on HBO Pay-Per-View.

"I think he's good fighter. I think he's number one on Boxrec right now, I'm second place," he said through a translator to a group of reporters."So he's a  great fighter and I think it's going to be a very exciting fight."

Top Rank, who promote both champions, have finalized the pay-per-view undercard for the event.

WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (34-0, 24 KOs) will be making his first defense of the title against Dominik Britsch (32-2-1, 11 KOs) of Germany. Ramirez became the first Mexican fighter in boxing history to win a world title at super middleweight when he beat Germany's Arthur Abraham last month on the Pacquiao-Bradley III undercard.

Mexican Olympian Oscar Valdez (20-0, 17 KOs) will collide with Matias Rueda (26-0, 23 KOs) for the vacant WBO featherweight world title. The belt became vacant when Vasyl Lomachenko made a decision to move up in weight to challenge WBO super featherweight champion Rocky Martinez.

And opening up the show will be Jose Benavidez (24-0, 16 KOs) trading punches with rugged Francisco Santana (24-4-1, 12 KOs) in a welterweight contest over ten rounds.

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.