by Cliff Rold

Call him champ and mean it.

In two consecutive divisions, without a clear world champion to be found, Terence Crawford has entered the ring widely regarded as the best or next best man in his class. At lightweight, he faced Ray Beltran when they were rated by TBRB, Ring, and ESPN as the top two at 135. Saturday, he faced Viktor Postol when all three of those bodies, along with Boxing Monthly and even the sometimes-odd ratings at BoxRec, were in agreement.

Today we can call Crawford a two-division world champion, in the best sense of the word. He’s one of only five men with clear claim to their division’s lineal crown and one of only five to hold more than one belt in his class.

Only heavyweight king Tyson Fury is currently a member of both fraternities. 

In those two fights, Beltran and Postol, Crawford has lost 8 of 72 rounds scored across six scorecards. He’s not just beating the top guys available.

He’s schooling them.

Let there be no doubts. Saturday was schooling.   

Let’s go the report card.

Grades

Pre-Fight: Speed – Postol B+; Crawford A/Post: B; A

Pre-Fight: Power – Postol B; Crawford B+/Post: B-; B+

Pre-Fight: Defense – Postol B+; Crawford A-/Post: B-; A-

Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Postol A; Crawford A/Post: A; B

In the pre-fight report card, the choice of Crawford to win came down to what made him better by eye. Both he and Postol are fundamentally sound, skilled fighters with good ring IQ. What set Crawford apart is an edge in athleticism. His speed of hand and foot, and edge in punching power, were always going to be an uphill climb for Postol.

It figured that it might take a few rounds to figure Postol out. Nearly 6’0 tall and with long arms, Postol’s length was going to be a puzzle to solve.

Crawford solved it by the fourth round. After a strong third from Postol, Crawford came back with three excellent minutes and then blew the gates open in the fifth. Two flash knockdowns gave him a sizable lead and Postol, trying to play catch up, never did.

Much was said on-air by the HBO commentary team about Postol’s failing efforts to land single shots but credit there goes to Crawford. He didn’t leave Postol a lot of options. As the second half wore on, Postol tried at one point to lure Crawford into leading. We got a staring contest for part of a round. Crawford wasn’t going to make opportunities for the Ukrainian.

It didn’t make for a particularly entertaining second half.

Sometimes a master class can be monotonous. Crawford used his legs but stayed in range enough to batter Postol with counters, turning on a dime and again scooting from harms way.

It was up to Postol to do something dramatic to change his fortunes. He never really tried until it was too late. Late in the eleventh and into the final round, Postol finally opened up and scored in spots. The twelfth saw Crawford respond by stunning Postol again. Postol never pressed again.

He chose finishing on his feet over risking being finished himself. With only 12 stoppages in 28 wins, Postol might have known what the numbers suggested.

A one-punch miracle wasn’t in the cards. The desperation he showed came too late. He needed a wild rally attempt earlier. He’d already been in checkmate too long.

With the win, the question is what does Crawford do next? There isn’t a ton there in terms of money fights at 140. He can continue to pursue unification but what he’ll really want, what anyone in his position should want, is the name.

The name is Manny Pacquiao.

Pacquiao, who never really retired, may want safer fare. At 37, he isn’t what he was and knows what it means to be the older man against a young tiger. He was the young tiger once against Oscar De La Hoya the same way Marciano was there for Louis and Terry Norris was there for Ray Leonard.

But does the champion’s pride still eat at him? One of the things that leads the great ones to night’s like Leonard-Norris is the competitive belief that they can bend time to their will. Of the fighters available immediately to Pacquiao in the Bob Arum stable, no one poses a greater risk than Crawford.

The evidence suggests Pacquiao isn’t as diminished as Leonard or Louis were at that point. He’s coming off a dominant victory over Timothy Bradley. He can still go.

Does he really want to know how much he has left? Does he want to take the sort of fight where the reward would truly add to his legend?

Or does he want to fight Jessie Vargas?    

 Report Card and Staff Picks 2016: 29-10

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com