Kavaliauskas, Robinson Box To Draw, Affects Crawford Fight

By Keith Idec

PHILADELPHIA – Ray Robinson might’ve done enough Saturday night to definitively take away one of Bob Arum’s few potential opponents for Terence Crawford.

Egidjius Kavaliauskas, who’s promoted by Arum’s Top Rank Inc., still managed to walk away with a majority draw in Robinson’s hometown. Robinson, a tall southpaw, sometimes used his jab, straight left hand and movement to counteract Kavaliauskas, but only one judge scored their 10-round ESPN co-feature for Robinson at 2300 Arena.

Judge Rose Lacend scored the action 97-93 in favor of Philadelphia’s Robinson. She was overruled by the two other judges, Dave Braslow and Kevin Morgan, each of whom scored their encounter even (95-95).

“I won the fight, and I won it clearly,” Kavaliauskas said. “The judges did not agree, and I can’t control what fight they were watching. I still want to fight for a world title because I consider this fight a victory. I am still undefeated, and I know I can beat all of the champions in the welterweight division.”

This fight represented an important test for the heavily favored Kavaliauskas (21-0-1, 17 KOs), who could’ve been Crawford’s next opponent if Crawford defeats Amir Khan on April 20 at Madison Square Garden.

More than anything, Top Rank’s matchmakers needed to determine how Lithuania’s Kavaliauskas would fare against a southpaw. Crawford technically is an orthodox boxer, but the WBO welterweight champion fights from a southpaw stance the majority of the time.

At 5-feet-8, Crawford is about two inches shorter than the 5-feet-10 Robinson. Kavaliauskas often had trouble getting inside the taller, rangier Robinson’s jab.

According to unofficial CompuBox punch stats, Kavaliauskas landed 18 more overall punches than Robinson (88-of-432 to 70-of-527). CompuBox credited Kavaliauskas for landing more power punches (61-of-191 to 41-of-129) and Robinson for connecting on more jabs (29-of-398 to 27-of-241).

Even though he didn’t lose, the result Saturday night hurt Kavaliauskas’ cause in his pursuit of a Crawford fight. Arum considered Kavaliauskas valuable before Saturday night because Top Rank has a shortage of welterweights under contract that could possibly box Crawford.

The most meaningful fights at welterweight for Crawford – bouts with Errol Spence Jr., Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Manny Pacquiao and Danny Garcia – all would require Arum and adversary Al Haymon to work together. Arum promotes Crawford, but Haymon advises Spence, Thurman, Porter, Garcia and Pacquiao, who was promoted by Arum for most of Pacquiao’s career.

Before Saturday night, Robinson (24-3-1, 12 KOs) hadn’t fought since Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas stopped him in the seventh round of their IBF welterweight championship elimination match in February 2017 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. A year later, Ugas (23-4, 11 KOs) gave WBC welterweight champ Shawn Porter everything Porter could handle in a 12-rounder Porter won by split decision March 9 in Carson, California.

Kavaliauskas came after Robinson at the start of the 10th round, only to have Robinson stand his ground and land hard lefts of his own. Robinson out-landed Kavaliauskas in that round as well and jumped up on the ropes as soon as the final bell sounded.

Robinson continued to out-maneuver and out-land Kavaliauskas throughout the ninth round. Kavaliauskas stalked Robinson for much of those three minutes, but he couldn’t land flush punches on the elusive left-hander.

Robinson clipped Kavaliauskas with a right hook in the beginning of the eighth round. Kavaliauskas connected with two straight right hands later in the eighth to back up Robinson.

Robinson also landed multiple lefts to Kavaliauskas’ body toward the end of the eighth.

Robinson went at Kavaliauskas at the very beginning of the seventh round, but Kavaliauskas stood his ground and fired back in the center of the ring. Robinson spent much of the remainder of the round out-boxing Kavaliauskas, who had difficulty landing clean shots in those three minutes.

A straight left hand by Robinson backed up Kavaliauskas early in the sixth round. A straight right hand by Kavaliauskas snapped back Robinson’s later in the sixth.

Kavaliauskas countered Robinson with another right in the sixth.

Robinson knocked Kavaliauskas off balance with a straight left hand early in the fifth round. Kavaliauskas quickly re-set his feet and kept pressing Robinson.

Later in the fifth, Kavaliauskas backed Robinson into the ropes and landed a hard left hook to Robinson’s head. Kavaliauskas also connected with right hands in three separate instances toward the end of the fifth round.

Kavaliauskas attacked Robinson at the start of the fourth round, but he didn’t land anything that hurt his left-handed opponent.

Robinson connected with an effective left to the body in the third round. Kavaliauskas came back with a straight right hand up top and a left hook to Robinson’s head.

Kavaliauskas had difficulty penetrating Robinson’s jab during the second round. In its final 10 seconds, however, Kavaliauskas connected with a straight right hand that backed Robinson into the ropes.

Robinson boxed well in the first round. He mostly controlled the distance during that round and landed a left hand to turned around Kavaliauskas toward the end of those opening three minutes.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.