Vinny’s Views: Terence Crawford Vs Felix Diaz: The Stats, The Facts, & The Prediction!

By Vinny “Glory Days” Lucci

Slow roll of thunder as a storm is headed to the east coast and preparing to electrify the big house, Madison Square Garden. Junior Welterweight champion Terence Crawford breaks away from his comfort zone of Omaha to the glorified building where hallowed champions and contenders battled on the world stage. Crawford prepares to make his eighth defense against an enigma named Felix Diaz. Crawford quietly attained his first title under the boxing radar back in 2013 with a sixth round TKO over Alejandro Sanabria for the vacant WBO belt. Just one year later, he gained national attention with a blitzkrieg of sturdy Yuriorkis Gamboa with a sensational ninth round knockout that gave credence to the Nebraska legend becoming an icon in the making.

Diaz has a “spoiler” style that purists may dismiss as more style than substance but he has quickly become a fan friendly character inside the ring. He has a glide and jive bravado yet, has enough solid foundation and skill acumen to warrant a title shot while Crawford decides if he will finally entertain the concept of moving north seven pounds to swim among bigger sharks at welterweight or languish awhile longer and vie for another unification bout.

The Event:

Madison Square Garden, the mecca of boxing in New York City hosts this main event championship. Bout to be televised by HBO and promoted by Top Rank and DiBella Entertainment next week on Saturday, May 20. Crawford will be defending WBC and WBO Junior Welterweight titles against the WBC’s third ranked contender.

The Stats:

The American champion stands 5’8” with a 70” reach. He is listed as fighting from orthodox stance but flashes moments of brilliance in switching to southpaw seamlessly confusing his opponents to gain distance advantage when needed. He does it so well it’s time to officially name the ambidextrous posturing as “Orthopaw!” Junior lightweight champion Gervonta Davis could also be tagged in this very unique category. Crawford goes by the moniker “Bud” by his beloved state and fanatic fans but has raised to the level where his surname carries all the clout and recognition he’ll ever need. The 29 year old boasts a perfect record of 30-0, 21 KO’s.

Felix Diaz is a 2008 Olympic Gold winner who hails from Dominican Republic and will enter ring surrendering all advantages on paper to the champion. His proud record of 19-1, 9 KO’s falls short in both experience and power. At 5’5” he gives away three inches in height, as well as three inches in reach. Phone booth warfare must placate his style as he cannot mount an offense from outside the pocket.

Styles and what to look for:

Terence is a boxer with power who elects to take his time solving his foes abilities and habits then turns up the heat exploiting faults before setting traps. His chin is solid and is comfortable on toes or flat footed depending on what leverage is needed. He fights behind a steady jab and can change direction of his combos in midflight like a deer changing directions eluding hunters. Trying to catch him off balance in transfer has been wasted energy by thirty previous opponents.

Felix is a trip. He could be a training film for managers as how not to train fighters. A flat footed brawler who looks to drop his hands and jive his way inside his foes reach where he opens up his arsenal with two fisted carnage. He tucks his chin to his chest but keeps his guard precariously low and ill-advised for someone with a short reach. He has a good chin but fights ugly and is difficult to score his bouts between assessing points and reckless mayhem.

He has an abundance of confidence that has helped him overwhelm previous foes but might be playing devil’s advocate to Crawford’s superiority. His entire fight plan will be to get inside both the champions head and reach playing a fast paced game of tag while trying to push the champion back on his heels and against the ropes as much as possible. His style is to win over real estate and downsize ring to a cage fight.

Odds:

Crawford the bold favorite at -1700. Diaz +1100 or 3 to 1 favorite. Chance of draw 100/1

The Vinny Factor:

It’s been common knowledge in boxing circles that Bud has to sweat down to make weight the 140 pound limit and walks around comfortably at middleweight. Speculation that he would rise seven pounds to enter the welterweights has been bandied about for two years already. Will the continued effort to make 140 finally catch up to the champion and can he mentally get up for a fighter of Diaz’s style while bigger name fights like Manny Pacquiao have eluded him thus far?
Will Diaz’s lack of one punch power hamper his chances of keeping Crawford humble and surrender his mystique of vicious brawler? Can his herky jerky rhythm upset the champion’s balance and patience or will he be reduced from contender to entertaining sideshow?

Previous Fight:

In his last defense this past December Crawford dismantled and stopped name contender John Molina, JR. in eight rounds by TKO.

Diaz also last fought in December stopping Levis Morales by TKO.

Prediction: Terence Crawford by unanimous decision.

The biggest name on Diaz’s resume is Lamont Peterson who he fought back in 2015 and lost a majority decision. Peterson fought lackluster throughout much of the bout and still came out on top of the scorecards. While several recognizable names adorn his ledger there is no hint that he is ready to take on the likes of Terence Crawford. Lou Dibella who promotes him thinks his man has a shot at upset. I believe Diaz is being rushed with only twenty fights and lack of big time exposure. He would have been better served waiting out a year and taking on a couple of name contenders first but he’s 33 and running out of time.

Terence could pull a “Hearns” move and shoot to kill getting his quarry out of the limelight in two or three rounds but that’s not his style. The champion is head and shoulders better than his eighth challenger but will elect to take his time and win at his own pace. Finding Felix will be difficult to do on a steady basis so he’ll play his game of tag and win.

Stay tuned…

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