HBO Fight Preview

Terence Crawford vs. Hank Lundy

This Saturday on HBO Terence Crawford will be making his debut in the Big Apple.  Crawford will be taking on Hank Lundy from the Theater at Madison Square Garden in a 12-round bout in the junior welterweight division.  On the line will be Crawford's WBO title and also his perfect professional record.  Lundy is viewed as a big underdog and wasn't the first choice of opponents but after being unable to find a higher profile dance partner Crawford and his team settled on Lundy.

Crawford was dominant in his last fight

Offensively Crawford is one of the most versatile fighters in all of boxing.  He typically starts fights in the orthodox stance but will often switch to southpaw and he finds equal success as a right handed fighter or lefty.  As an orthodox fighter Crawford shows a good jab and strong left hook.  Along with those weapons he also has an accurate straight right hand that does damage.  As good as Crawford is in the orthodox stance he may actually be better as a southpaw.  From the lefty stance Crawford's jab has more pop on it and his right hook is a dangerous weapon.  What makes Crawford elite is the fact that he is also good defensively so he is able to be very aggressive or sit back and counter and finds success either way.  One reason so many fans like watching Crawford is that when he takes a punch he actually seems to get mad and if you catch him clean he looks to end your night.

At 28 years old Crawford is at the beginning of his physical prime and the time is now for him to face the best.  Crawford has already fought some quality opponents as a lightweight, most notably Ricky Burns, Yuriorkis Gamboa, and Raymundo Beltran but hasn't yet fought the best at 140 pounds.  In his two fights as a junior welterweight Crawford has dismantled Thomas Dulorme and Dierry Jean and now will face Lundy.  As a professional Crawford has been perfect with a record of 27-0 with 19 knockouts and he seems to get more dominant with every performance.  However, fans are still waiting for him to face off against another elite fighter and depending on how that goes we could be witnessing the birth of the next great American superstar.

Win or lose, Lundy always gives it his all

Lundy fights exclusively as a southpaw and he has a good jab that helps from control the distance in fights.  Although he doesn't have very fast hands he does throw a nice compact right hook that can surprise opponents.  Lundy's punches aren't always so compact though.  He throws a wild overhand left and at times even his right hook can widen and lose its effectiveness.  Defensively Lundy is good but not great and while he knows all the veteran tricks of the trade he doesn't move in the ring nearly as well as Crawford does.  But without a doubt Lundy is a tough customer and always gives a good account of himself.

Lundy is four years older than Crawford but only has five more fights than his young opponent does.  However, Lundy has consistently taken on tough tests and has never had an easy time in his career.  His professional record stands at 26-5-1 with 13 knockouts but all of his losses have come against quality opponents.  In his five career losses Lundy has only been stopped once, which happened in his first career loss to John Molina Jr..  Since that loss Lundy has also dropped bouts to Beltran, Viktor Postol, Dulorme, and Mauricio Herrera.  It doesn't bode well for Lundy that two of the opponents he has lost to were so easily beaten by Crawford.

How this fight plays out really comes down to how good of a fight Lundy can put up and for how long.  Crawford is the heavy favorite and the reason for that is because he is simply a higher level fighter than Lundy is.  Lundy does everything pretty good while Crawford does everything pretty great.  Crawford has been known to start fights slowly so Lundy should try to get out to a fast start and put some rounds in the bank.  Once Crawford heats up it will be tough for Lundy to stop him unless he turns in the performance of his career.

PREDICTION: Hank Lundy hasn't been stopped since 2010 but that streak will end on Saturday night.  Lundy may give a good account of himself for the first few rounds but once Terence Crawford gets going there will be no looking back.  Once he builds a comfortable lead Crawford will start to land the power and he will stop Lundy in the tenth round.

Felix Verdejo vs. William Silva

The co-feature of Saturday's HBO card will feature a familiar face to new York City fight fans, Felix Verdejo.  This will be Verdejo's fifth time fighting in New York City and the second time one of his fights from the Theater at Madison Square Garden will be an HBO co-feature.  Verdejo will be taking on the unbeaten Brazilian fighter William Silva and the fight is scheduled to go 10 rounds in the lightweight division.

Verdejo could be Puerto Rico's next superstar 

Top Rank Inc, who promotes Verdejo is banking on him becoming Puerto Rico's next superstar and so far it looks like that might come true.  Verdejo is an orthodox fighter who is very athletic and is still very young at only 22 years of age.  With his athleticism Verdejo has shown quick hands and good power and most of his punches.  For such a young fighter Verdejo seems to realize the importance of a good jab because he throws his often and does a tremendous job if sticking it to the belly of opponents.  Along with his jab Verdejo has a stiff straight right hand and a left hook that is his best punch.  Defensively Verdejo still has some work to do but so far his offense has been so good that it hasn't mattered much, even though it will going forward.

Verdejo hasn't fought a very high level of opposition but at such a young age most fighters don't.  While he has slightly stepped up his competition level in recent fights he is still working on building his resume before facing the best.  Saturday's opponent Silva, might not be a step up from other recent Verdejo opponents but he is an undefeated prospect so someone's "0" will go.  Since turning pro in 2012 Verdejo has run his record to a perfect 19-0 with a solid 14 knockouts and he should just keep getting better.

A win over Verdejo would be a big statement 

Silva is a relatively unknown orthodox fighter from Brazil.  One big advantage he will have over Verdejo is his height because at 6-feet 1-inches tall Silva is a huge lightweight and is a full 4-inches taller than his Puerto Rican counterpart.  Silva likes to work from the outside where he can use his height advantage to land a lot of one-two combinations.  His jab is solid and he has a nice straight right hand that may be hist best punch.  Silva will also throw an overhand right that has some pop on it and while he doesn't throw it often he does have a chopping left hook that can land on the inside.  Silva isn't great on defense though and is vulnerable to counter right hands.

Silva has been fighting professionally since 2006 but the biggest name on his resume is Bayan Jargal.  Most of Silva's fights have come in his native Brazil which is far from being a boxing hotbed.  In fact, the combined record of his opponents is 184-250-17 which means he has never faced anywhere nearly as good as Verdejo.  Perhaps because the level of the opponents he has been fighting Silva has a perfect record of 23-0 with 14 knockouts but Saturday's fight will be a huge step up for him.

If Silva is better than expected this could be a fun fight.  Fans haven't seen Verdejo go through much adversity outside of a few hand injuries and if Silva uses his height properly fans could see Verdejo have to figure an opponent out.  Verdejo also needs to be careful not to look passed Silva because he knows bigger fights are on the horizon.  However, as long as Verdejo can deal with the height of Silva he should be able to control the action for most of the night.

PREDICTION: William Silva has never faced an opponent as talented as Felix Verdejo and that will be clear very early.  Silva may find some success playing it safe and popping one-twos from the outside but once Verdejo starts to land he will be in complete control.  Silva has never been down as a pro but that will change on Saturday as Verdejo will drop him a few times on his way to a wide unanimous decision victory.