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Bud Crawford vs. Egidijus Kavaliauskas - Dec 14


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Genuine P4P star Terence Crawford will make the mandatory defense of his welterweight world title against "Mean Machine" Egidijus Kavaliauskas on Dec. 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York in the main event of a loaded tripleheader.

 

The fight, finalized when Crawford signed a contract yesterday; Monday, will headline a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card (ESPN and ESPN Deportes, 9PM ET.) that will also include lightweight world titlist Richard Commey in a mandatory defense against red-hot rising contender Teofimo Lopez Jr. and a 10-round featherweight grudge match between Michael Conlan and Vladimir Nikitin, who scored a hugely controversial win over Conlan in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympics.

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I dunno too much about Kavaliauskas, other than he can really bang & he's trained by Robert Garcia.

I never saw his bout with Abreu, who was surely his most skilled opponent. Time to check that one out .....

 

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Commey - Lopez Jr is a cracking matchup!

 

Commey is so fast, and huge power in both hands. Always fun to watch. Also, he really only has one loss, as he was CLEARLY robbed against Easter Jr. Plus, Sakalov is incredibly tough, so no shame in losing a decision to him.

 

Lopez, OMG, most likely a future superstar, in the mold of Lomachenko. His hands are as fast as Commey's, so this should be an amazing fght.

 

My predicition: Lopez, via a body shot KO.

Edited by Cableaddict
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--- A rare 4 belt champ at 140 is hardly weak opposition for Bud, the prob being his options are limited at 147 because of promoter squabbles.

 

Uncle Al holds all the cards and barely let's his fighters at the top go against each other. At any rate Spence vs anyone on indefinite, perhaps permanent hold.

 

Commey reminds me of Mugabi with that raw, untutored crack of power striking out of the blue. I doubt I'd let my 22yr old fighter face such a beast without further development, butbhere we go.

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I agree with you about Commey and Lopez though. Lopez has looked decent against fairly average opposition but has done nothing to suggest he's ready for Commey who's a beast of a lightweight.

 

I think you're massively underestimating Lopez. Sure, he hasn't faced elite opponents yet, and that does matter, but his last 5 or so fights were against VERY decent guys, not cans or journeymen. They only looked average because Lopez is so bloody good.

 

Lopez' only real flaw is that he doesn't jab enough, and granted he'd better improve that before facing Commey. ( ! ) But he has everything else: Super-fast hands. Power. Balance, punch fundamentals. . A varied attack arsenal, including excellent body work. Patience. Ring IQ. He's also very athletic, even though his feet are not all that fast. His footwork overall is fantastic.

 

These are things you can see, despite his competition not yet being A-level. AND HE'S ONLY 22 YEARS OLD!

I give him about a 50% chance right now of owning the division in a few years. - If he can get by the fearsome Commey, of course.

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And not for nuthin', but who has Commey beaten, exactly? He lost the only time he really stepped up. (Granted, I think he actually won that fight, and Easter is a monster himself, but it wasn't a great performance. Commey ate a LOT ofpunches.) Commey even lost to Shakilov, which is somewhat embarrasing even if Shakalov IS an incredibly tough SOB.

Commey's offense is spectacular, and his chin is granite, but his defense is a bit lacking. He tends to throw wild, looping punches which leave his head exposed. - And Lopez is FAST. He should be able to capitalize on that flaw. He's also like an angry hornet when he gets his opponent in trouble.

 

Commey has a nice reach advantage, but Lopez is a great in-fighter. It's just a great matchup. I can't wait.

Edited by Cableaddict
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This will also be Bud's last fight for Uncle Bob - or will it ? His TR contract ends early next year. Be interesting to see how it all pans out with the PBC not recognising the WBO.

 

But whatever this a cracking triple header to see the year out.

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I think you're massively underestimating Lopez. Sure, he hasn't faced elite opponents yet, and that does matter, but his last 5 or so fights were against VERY decent guys, not cans or journeymen. They only looked average because Lopez is so bloody good.

 

Lopez' only real flaw is that he doesn't jab enough, and granted he'd better improve that before facing Commey. ( ! ) But he has everything else: Super-fast hands. Power. Balance, punch fundamentals. . A varied attack arsenal, including excellent body work. Patience. Ring IQ. He's also very athletic, even though his feet are not all that fast. His footwork overall is fantastic.

 

These are things you can see, despite his competition not yet being A-level. AND HE'S ONLY 22 YEARS OLD!

I give him about a 50% chance right now of owning the division in a few years. - If he can get by the fearsome Commey, of course.

----------

 

And not for nuthin', but who has Commey beaten, exactly? He lost the only time he really stepped up. (Granted, I think he actually won that fight, and Easter is a monster himself, but it wasn't a great performance. Commey ate a LOT ofpunches.) Commey even lost to Shakilov, which is somewhat embarrasing even if Shakalov IS an incredibly tough SOB.

Commey's offense is spectacular, and his chin is granite, but his defense is a bit lacking. He tends to throw wild, looping punches which leave his head exposed. - And Lopez is FAST. He should be able to capitalize on that flaw. He's also like an angry hornet when he gets his opponent in trouble.

 

Commey has a nice reach advantage, but Lopez is a great in-fighter. It's just a great matchup. I can't wait.

 

I'm not underestimating Lopez who's clearly a very good prospect and he's got a decent chance of winning. He'd have an even better chance of winning with another 12 months and 3 competitive bouts under his belt. He didn't exactly set the world on fire last time out. The Nakatani fight was closer than the score cards indicated.

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I think you're massively underestimating Lopez. Sure, he hasn't faced elite opponents yet, and that does matter, but his last 5 or so fights were against VERY decent guys, not cans or journeymen. They only looked average because Lopez is so bloody good.

 

Lopez' only real flaw is that he doesn't jab enough, and granted he'd better improve that before facing Commey. ( ! ) But he has everything else: Super-fast hands. Power. Balance, punch fundamentals. . A varied attack arsenal, including excellent body work. Patience. Ring IQ. He's also very athletic, even though his feet are not all that fast. His footwork overall is fantastic.

 

These are things you can see, despite his competition not yet being A-level. AND HE'S ONLY 22 YEARS OLD!

I give him about a 50% chance right now of owning the division in a few years. - If he can get by the fearsome Commey, of course.

----------

 

And not for nuthin', but who has Commey beaten, exactly? He lost the only time he really stepped up. (Granted, I think he actually won that fight, and Easter is a monster himself, but it wasn't a great performance. Commey ate a LOT ofpunches.) Commey even lost to Shakilov, which is somewhat embarrasing even if Shakalov IS an incredibly tough SOB.

Commey's offense is spectacular, and his chin is granite, but his defense is a bit lacking. He tends to throw wild, looping punches which leave his head exposed. - And Lopez is FAST. He should be able to capitalize on that flaw. He's also like an angry hornet when he gets his opponent in trouble.

 

Commey has a nice reach advantage, but Lopez is a great in-fighter. It's just a great matchup. I can't wait.

 

ok when did Denis Shafikov change his name to Denis Shakalov Cable ?

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Crawford's clearly a good fighter but let's be honest the quality of his opposition has been strictly second tier. That's why I can't see him as the P4P number 1.

 

I got Crawford top of mine but I did say previously in a thread that if he doesn't get a good opponent next time out then I'd have to look at it again since other fighters like Loma and Usyk are making progress, Spence Jr too though he's not in my top5 atm.

 

But thankfully I don't have to look again just yet, this is a good fight, Kavaliauskas is a more than satisfactory opponent in my view and Crawford can be hit so we should have a good fight on our hands.

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Egidijus Kavaliauskas was gifted a draw in his last fight. Well out of order and someone pulling some strings.........

 

Having said that - he's a legit contender and won't give Bud a run for his money - but wont be too poor an opponent for a TR fight.

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