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Vinny’s Views: Jeff Horn Vs Terence Crawford: The Stats, The Facts & The Fight Prediction Is In!

By Vinny “Glory Days” Lucci

One of the fun aspects of our beloved sport is the never ending naiveté perpetuated upon the masses by any carnival barking grifter who gets himself a state license to preform whatever duties it is that their Halloween costume calls for. These services provided without the worrisome threat of prying eyes of an international commission to answer to. The media get to sound off on all the ills the sport has to offer and fans are expected to deal with it all as business as usual. Greedy promoters, seedy Alphabet organizations, inexperienced trainers, smart mouth boxers and inept referees can occasionally (or quite often) turn the sweet science into nothing more than an unwritten Wrestling Mania script where the chorus of boos transcends arenas, living rooms, the internet and newspapers for a week or so until the winds die down and fans beg for more.

Luckily there are bonafide heroes within all confines of the sport whose work ethic sets example, not the norm, and help eradicate the second tier slime from taking over. Luckily for fans worldwide the true greats realize there is no magic to becoming a star overnight and that a worthwhile legacy is a process of achievement one rung at a time until your last man standing. Keeping all this in mind it’s suggested here by Ringside Report that you should never need a map to distinguish from the two.
The Event: Terence Crawford’s challenge of Jeff Horn for WBO Welter weight title has been rescheduled for June 9 and will be hosted at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with Top Rank promoting. The venue was originally booked for April 14 at the Mandalay Bay but was postponed due to minor hand injury to Crawford where he did not sustain any fracture or ligament damage. ESPN will televise the Top Rank promotion.

The Stats:

Terence “Bud” Crawford has recently vacated all the Jr. Welter weight titles in a much anticipated jump seven pounds north to popular welterweight division to make his own introductions and leave behind a blue print for team Horn on all the things the WBO champion has yet to learn. Crawford stands 5’8” with a 70” reach owning an enviable record of 32-0, 23 KO’s. The 30 year old is entering his prime right now and at the more comfortable weight of 147 pounds. The former WBO Lightweight and unified Jr. Welter weight champion hails from Omaha Nebraska and fights out of the southpaw stance. It must be noted here that once inside the ring Terence is a fluid ambidextrous boxer who can shift gears and stances on a dime. Crawford already has established a path to a hall of fame career and sits aloft the imaginary pound for pound rankings on most social media.

Jeff “The Hornet” Horn is the WBO Welter weight champion making his second defense of title. He hails from Brisbane, Queensland Australia. Their resident in training stands 5’9” with a 68” reach that appears much shorter since he uses his forehead for a jab. He has never fought over seas and has been well protected in establishing a record of 18-0-1, 12 KO’s. Before his title challenge of icon Manny Pacquiao the only recognizable name on is resume was the highly respectable Randal Bailey who was 41 years old when he traveled down under.

Backdrop to story:

Against Pacquiao stupidity reigned supreme for promoter Bob Arum as he allowed the challenger to dictate the site thus all but guaranteeing a hometown decision. Horn used his head for a battering ram all night long and in every clinch opening cuts around the champion’s brow. It was a black eye for boxing last July 17, when referee Mark Nelson did not fail to prevent the dirty tactics nor he did deduct points. The scoring by inept or corrupt judges Waleska Roldan 117-111, Chris Flores 115-113, and Ramon Cerdan 115-113 made the media wish instead for Stevie Wonder, Andre Bocelli and Jose Feliciano. “Compubox” had Pacquiao out landing Horn by twice as many punches. Manny landed 182 of 573 thrown, for a 32% connect rate compared to the paltry 92 of 625 landed by Horn at a 15% connect rate. The bout was rescored by Alphabet Soup WBO appointed judges to independently rescore the bout but warned they did not have the capacity to overturn the official decision. This futile time wasting procedure yielded a Horn win by 7 to 5 in rounds. Since these judges were anonymous there is no proof such a study was ever conducted!

Last bout:

Crawford put an exclamation point on the Jr. Welter weight division by putting his two titles on the line in a unification match with undefeated double belt holder Julius Indongo for bragging rights as the only single champion in the boxing. Crawford won by knockout in the third round leaving no doubt to his supremacy. Match was held at Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln Nebraska last August.

Horn was to give Pacquiao a rematch but now as champion was holding all the cards and I’m quite sure his team would have insisted on Australia as host once again. The bout was put on hold and Horn was allowed to take a voluntary defense fighting Gary Corcoran who neatly blended into his ledger with unrecognizable names. In this bout Horn actually took his jabs out of mothballs and was ahead on scorecards of a very competitive bout. Both fighters suffered cuts and Corcoran’s corner threw in the towel in the 11th round. Contest was held last December naturally in Brisbane.

Styles:

Crawford has demonstrated time and again to being beyond crafty inside the ropes. His skill set in being able to adapt and set traps is sheer cunning. He carries power in either hand and makes the most use out of his jab by getting the fullest extension on it. With only a 2” advantage in reach it will seem like 4” to Horn come fight night. As afore mentioned Crawford can smoothly switch stances or even fight an entire fight from orthodox stance should an advantage situation arise. The challenger handles pressure like few can and actually feeds off it.
Horn is a brawler in every sense of the word. In terms of boxing skills he has a very limited vocabulary and relies on physicality in man handling the opponents they set up as glorified tough man contests. In his five years as a pro he has yet to polish up his sloppy defense or dirty tactics of head butting and mauling clinches. Don’t get me wrong we all love the brawling style of a terrific action fighter like Duran, Mancini, Hamsho or a Hatton for example but Horn is purely one dimensional.

What to look for fight night: With no Boxing IQ to switch to a plan ”B” Horn is going to have to make the most of what he does best, fight ugly. He will never outbox Crawford and he will learn quickly from the on start that he won’t be able to get away with street fighting tactics that made him a hero in Australia. For all His converted skills Crawford also has some junk yard dog in his game and will make the paper champion regret he never earned his way up the top ten learning his craft like everyone else.

The Vinny Factor:

Crawford walks around as a middleweight and long strained to make 140 lbs. weigh-ins. At 147 pounds he won’t be leaving an extra drop of sweat in the gym and should rehydrate to a formidable middleweight at ring entrance putting Horn on notice that his title dissipation light goes from blinking to lighthouse. Can Horn possibly win and shock the world? Yes, in a locked closet with a grenade. You follow?

Odds:

Vegas has made Crawford a clear favorite at -2250 leaving Horn as heavy underdog at +950

Prediction:

Crawford by S.O.S. (Stoppage or Decision)

Of note on the News Front: I have been getting calls and texts across the Eastern seaboard from boxers and colleagues asking my opinion if I believe Canelo Alvarez was cheating with steroids for his upcoming rematch with Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin or knowingly taking his chances on eating tainted meat while training in Mexico. My retort: “How many multi-millionaires do you know that go around taking chances of eating any form of rancid meat?”

Stay tuned…

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