By Cliff Rold

There is an easy way to do things in boxing.

It’s not the better way. Sure, boxing is a business. It’s also a sport. The point of sports is to compete to be the best. The proliferation of belts creates a situation simply not far enough removed from the ‘everybody gets a trophy’ mentality.

If there are four guys in a division calling themselves champ, and that’s a sometimes-conservative number, does anyone really deserve the honor?

Saturday night (HBO PPV, 9 PM EST/6 PM PST), the men almost universally recognized as the two best at 140 lbs. will lock horns. One of them will leave with two title belts. One of them will leave still undefeated, barring a draw.

One of them will have earned the right to truly be called a world champion.  

Let’s go the report card.

The Ledgers

Viktor Postol
Age: 32
Title: WBC super lightweight (2015-Present, 1st Attempted Defense)
Previous Titles: None
Height: 5’11
Weight: 139 ½ lbs.
Hails from: Los Angeles, California (Born in Ukraine)
Record: 28-0, 12 KO?
Record in Major Title Fights: 1-0, 1 KO
Rankings: #1 (BoxingScene, TBRB, Ring), #2 (ESPN, BoxRec, Boxing Monthly)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced: 1 (DeMarcus Corley UD12)

Vs.

Terence Crawford
Age: 28
Title: WBO light welterweight (2015-Present, 2 Defenses)
Previous Titles: WBO lightweight (2014-15, 2 Defenses); Lineal/TBRB/Ring lightweight (2014-15)
Height: 5’8 
Weight: 140 lbs.
Hails from: Omaha, Nebraska
Record: 28-0, 20 KO
Record in Major Title Fights: 6-0, 4 KO
Rankings: #1 (ESPN, BoxRec, Boxing Monthly), #2 (BoxingScene, TBRB, Ring)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced: 2 (Ricky Burns UD12; Yuriorkis Gamboa TKO9)

Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Postol B+; Crawford A
Pre-Fight: Power – Postol B; Crawford B+
Pre-Fight: Defense – Postol B+; Crawford A-
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Postol A; Crawford A

Postol arrives at this fight with less fanfare but arguably the best win between the two of them. His stoppage of Lucas Matthysse last year was an eye opener. Matthysse had been one of the toughest outs in the division. Postol frustrated him, took his best shots, and found the blow that put him down for the count.

It was the culmination of a series of performances that elevated the stock of the oft-awkward Ukrainian. Respectable wins over Hank Lundy and Selcuk Aydin, and Danny Garcia working out step aside deals to put off a mandatory with him, said Postol was serious pro. Matthysse said even more.

Postol has good but not great speed; the same can be said of his power. He supplements any deficiencies with consistency and physical edges. At almost 6’0, he’s tall for the class and he uses his height well. Postol knows how to switch speeds, touching opponents from off angles, and then banging them with stiff, straight shots. His uppercut is short and well timed. His straight right hand is accurate.

Defensively, he can be caught but it’s not easy to make that happen in multiple. Add to that his willingness to tie up and lean on shorter opponents in the clinches and he becomes a very difficult package for anyone in the class.

Crawford will try to make it look easier than it is.

This isn’t the first time Crawford has entered a fight the shorter man. He gave up a couple of inches to both Thomas Dulorme and Ricky Burns. Unlike those fights, Crawford also gives up several inches in listed reach (73’ to 70’). He will have to figure out how to navigate that distance.

Helping him in that cause will be edges in power and speed. Postol is quicker than he looks. Crawford is just flat out fast. Like Postol, he also changes speeds well but he does it while also changing stances between orthodox and southpaw.

And Crawford can fight effectively from both.

In the Matthysse fight, one of the places where Postol was regularly vulnerable was to the body. Crawford is a good body puncher and knows how to connect without leaving himself as a target. His head movement is an asset. Postol would be smart to get close and tie him up, even if to the detriment of the fight, to disrupt any rhythm Crawford will try to get into.

So far, both men have come up bigger when the lights got brighter. This is, on paper, the toughest challenge for each. Who comes out on top?

The Pick

Postol is a good fighter but one who doesn’t do any one thing that just jumps out at you. That can sometimes be taken for granted. It might be happening this weekend. Almost no one is picking Postol to win. That doesn’t mean he can’t. If he can control the space, use awkward angles to set up straight shots, and frustrate Crawford inside, this fight can be won. It’s closer than the odds posted.

The odds still lean the way they should. Crawford fights with focus, poise, and has natural athletic gifts Postol simply doesn’t. Fundamentals can beat a better athlete, but it’s harder when the athlete is also fundamentally sound. Crawford is well schooled and seems to have a mean streak to go with it.

That’s going to be enough Saturday. There could be some technical haggling early but in a fight between schooled men, the guy who can get to target first usually wins. The pick here is Crawford in a decision where the second half of the fight isn’t as close as the first.  

 Report Card and Staff Picks 2016: 28-10

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