By Radio Rahim
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum is expecting Terence Crawford (28-0, 20KOs) to get his biggest professional test to date, when he steps in the ring with Viktor Postol (28-0, 12KOs) on July 23rd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Crawford is making his HBO Pay-Per-View debut as a headline fighter. Both the WBO and WBC junior welterweight championships will be on the line in this sanctioned unification.
Arum sees the match as being very dangerous for Crawford, based on Postol's unexpected knockouts of big punchers Selcuk Aydin and Lucas Matthysse.
Crawford retained his title earlier this year with a knockout of Hank Lundy. With the recent retirement of Manny Pacquiao, most observers view Crawford as the potential future superstar to lead Top Rank's stable of fighters. Crawford is the favorite in the upcoming fight, but Arum cautions that nobody should overlook the possibility of an upset.
"Sure he can upset Crawford. Postol is the kind of guy who is very, very dangerous as he's proven in his last two fights. Nobody has beaten him. He's a very disciplined Eastern European fighter. He's very dangerous," Arum told BoxingScene.com.
With Crawford being Top Rank's potential franchise fighter, Arum explained that he needed a real opponent for his HBO PPV debut because the public is tried of paying to watch mismatches.
"You can't sell garbage. We're selling this on pay-per-view and the people we want to see a really good fight," Arum said.
