By Terence Dooley
Anthony Crolla’s boxing world caved in on him in the space of a few weeks when news came through in July that his mooted fight with Mexican legend Erik Morales on the underbelly of Floyd Mayweather’s contest with Victor Ortiz had been nixed due to talk of a title bout between Erik and Jorge Barrios for the WBC light-welterweight title that had been spuriously ripped from the waist of Tim Bradley. Barrios dropped out leaving the way clear for Lucas Matthysse to step into his shoes; the Morales-Matthysse contest was sanctioned by the WBC – leaving everybody happy apart from Crolla.
Oscar De La Hoya publically assured ‘Million Dollar’ that he would still appear on the September 17th MGM Grand bill, the Mancunian gritted his teeth throughout the turmoil, ticking over in the gym in the hope that he would be given a run out. His faith was rewarded, a meeting with Mexico’s Juan ‘Cochulito’ Montiel has been arranged and the British 135lb titlist also has an October 15th mandatory defence against Willie Limond on his plate.
“I can’t wait, honestly,” enthused Crolla ahead of his Las Vegas debut. “It is a massive opportunity. Even though it isn’t the big fight it was originally going to be with Morales it is still massive to fight over there and is the type of thing that might not happen again in my career. I hope it does happen again but it will still be a great experience.
“I’ll be honest, when I found out the Morales fight was off I was devastated. I genuinely believed that I could shock everyone even though I was the underdog going into that fight. [Trainer] Joe [Gallagher] and me put a plan into place. We were going to go abroad for a camp in Tenerife and were nailing down the sparring so when it fell through I was gutted. It is boxing, things like this happen and there was no point sitting about crying over it.
“I went back into the gym. It paid off because within a few days I found out I had an undercard slot. I’ve also got a tough mandatory defence coming up as well. Morales was offered his chance for a world title to make himself a four division champion so you can see where he is coming from.”
“Yeah”, stated the 24-year-old to my question of whether he will seek Erik out and shake on it, “like I said I don’t hold any grudges, he would have been mad to turn down a world title shot and fight me. I wish it were me that he was fighting but these things happen. When I get over there, I’ve got to soak in all the experience of being around legends like Morales and Floyd. It will be something else, a brilliant time, but I’ve got my own fight to concentrate on.
“There’s still a load of people going over to support me. They couldn’t get their money back anyway so didn’t have a choice! There’s a good few Mancs going over, a lot of British are going over as well so I’ll get good support. Our fans are the best in the world, they showed that when they got behind Ricky [Hatton]. America had never seen anything like it so there’ll be some noise.”
Montiel holds a modest 5-4-3 (2) slate, the Mexican has not won since March, a first round TKO over Felipe Gonzalez, but will no doubt hope to upset his British opponent. Crolla has other plans. “I have watched a little bit of him,” confirmed Crolla. “Montiel is a nice boxer who goes on the back foot a little bit and gets behind his jab so the next week or so we’ll be studying him in training and looking for weaknesses to capitalize on.
“They breed them tough in Mexico don’t they? It is another style to face. But I’ve seen all types of styles in sparring lately. It is going really well. I’ve had brilliant variation in sparring over the last few weeks. I’ve enjoyed it and will deal with whatever he comes with on the night because of the preparation and variety I’ve had in the past few weeks.”
Floyd takes on Ortiz in the bill’s showcase bout. Amidst all the excitement over Mayweather’s return the current standing of ‘Vicious’ has been overlooked. Victor is putting his WBC welterweight belt on the line. Crolla, however, feels that Ortiz will not leave the MGM ring with his world crown.
“I’m a massive Floyd fan, boxing a few hours earlier than him in the same ring will be something that I’ll remember for the rest of my career. I also think Floyd stops Ortiz around nine,” his prediction.
“I know Ortiz has improved but he drew with [Lamont] Peterson the fight before last. It was a great performance against [Andre] Berto last time but he pulled out a big shot off the ropes in round two when he was under heavy pressure, if it wasn’t for that shot he may have been stopped. There’s no doubt that Ortiz can punch but Floyd hasn’t got a bad chin has he? I’ve always said that Floyd beats Manny [Pacquiao] so he will win this one.
“Ortiz put in a great performance (against Berto) but Floyd’s the best fighter on the planet and one of the best that the sport has ever seen. Floyd seems to be in and around the gym without a break, even though he’s not getting any younger he lives a clean live and it won’t be too much of a factor. We saw him come back from a lengthy break to beat [Juan Manuel] Marquez and [Shane] Mosley. We know he can’t keep doing it but I believe that Ortiz will walk onto a lot of Floyd’s shot and is tailor-made.”
Speaking of tailors, Anthony used to wear fur-lined shorts a la Mayweather. The British boss has toned it down in recent times but will still cast a fashionista’s eye over Floyd’s latest in-ring attire and will no doubt want to let Floyd know that he sparked a furry craze here in the UK.
“I might as well!” laughed Crolla. “I’ll have to let him know about my fur shorts and see what kit he brings out on the night. Floyd always looks the part in there so it will be interesting to see how he looks on the 17th and what kit he comes out with.”
Serious domestic business kicks in after the Vegas jaunt. Limond has been chomping at the bit for a big title shot; the Scotsman is a classy operator who will present Anthony with a stern test. Therefore the opportunity to get some rounds in the bank formed a crucial part of the fighter’s concerns when the Morales fight went south. Crolla’s only other action since his title win over John Watson in February a single stanza wipeout of Herve De Luca in June.
“I think having this Las Vegas fight before Willie will be great,” stressed the 2006 ABA lightweight champion. “I’ve not had loads of action this year. I’ve had brilliant sparring, which compensates a little bit, but I think this next fight will do me good. The Vegas experience will be something that will stand me in good stead for the rest of my career.
“I think Willie’s a really tough fighter. Joe and me believe he is one of the toughest fights out there in Britain for me. I really respect Willie, we are good mates, he is very good technically, very good footwork on him and he’s a very good fighter, a very underrated fighter. Willie had the Amir and Morales fights but he’s been avoided domestically a little bit, it will be tough but I’m looking forward to the fight because it will bring the best out of me.
“Willie’s only ever lost to (past and future) world champions [TKO reverses to Alex Arthur, Amir Khan and Erik Morales respectively]. It takes a very good fighter to beat him so for me to go in there and beat Willie would be good, hopefully I can go on and do some of the things those other fighters have done. We’ve got a tough fight, if I come through then I’d like the winner of Derry [Matthews] and [Gavin] Rees [who meet for the EBU title in October].”
Crolla-Limond will be the latest in a line of hugely anticipated domestic scraps, the two men are friends and will avoid the type of harsh talk that defined so many big fights yet was left at the door when John Murray met Kevin Mitchell for the WBO Inter-Continental lightweight title in July, Crolla feels that the Limond battle will be equally as thrilling.
Saying, “Willie’s a good thinker, a good counter puncher – I have to bring my A-game to beat him. I hope he brings his best and it gels. We won’t be doing any bad mouthing in the build up. There’s a lot of respect, as you mentioned with John and Kevin there was no bad talk for that fight and it was very good. I was gutted for John, he’s a very good friend and fighter, but I think he’ll come back stronger. You don’t always have to build up a grudge for a fight to set alight. Sometimes talk is cheap, there won’t be any of that with me and Willie.”
Moving from the bright lights of Vegas to the Bolton Arena will be a test in itself, the former English super-featherweight title winner told me that he will not get carried away by his big fight experience, citing the chance to pick up rounds as the real meat in the big bill sandwich.
“These events are on a massive scale, it doesn’t get much bigger but when I come back to Bolton to fight Willie it will be my night, I’ll be the main event and defending the British title means the world to me. It might be a bit of a culture shock but there won’t be any problems over me getting up for it,” he mused.
The recipient of a new deal from Hatton Promotions, Anthony believes that Ricky’s influence helped secure the Vegas bow, he also pointed to Hatton winning the purse bids for his maiden British title defence as a sign that his faith has been rewarded.
“Ricky has delivered with this fight and by securing the purse bids for my British defence. Ricky looks out for me, he picks up the phone to us and it is great to have a promoter who has been there and done it himself, he’s done a good job with me,” smiled the 21-2 (9) champion, he also told me that the Gallagher’s Gym team has benefitted hugely from Amir Khan’s patronage after losing their spot at Kerry Kayes’ Denton-based gymnasium.
“It is a happy gym, it is bouncing and busy, the Smiths are fighting on the same night as my Las Vegas fight [Writer’s note: The Smith brothers, Paul and Stephen, both feature on a Frank Warren bill in Liverpool], we’re all training together and the atmosphere is great. Amir couldn’t have done anymore for us. They’ve made us feel welcome and been good to us. Amir popped in the other day to see us. It is good to see someone who has things you aspire to doing that.”
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