I think that would be a terrific match up. Terence was supposed to have a
match with top Lightweight contender Raymundo Beltran. I don't know why
Top Rank didn't elect on promoting that fight on the undercard of the event
between Garcia-Lopez. At this point the Lightweight division does need an
emerging new boxing superstar to rise up and that would be an opportunity
for Terence Crawford to fill that role. They've already been comparing BUD's
boxing style to that of the great Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker. We will see
what happens though, I hope Top Rank guides and promotes Terence right.
There are a lot of possible opponents for him. The most thrilling possibility is not very likely...Adrien Broner. Broner is fighting Malinaggi at 147 and plans to return to 140 where Golden Boy can match him with many exciting foes (Garcia, MAtthysse, Peterson, etc). Also, the is the Golden Boy/ Showtime vs Top Rank/ HBO civil war that would make Crawford/Broner a hard fight to make.
Crawford could fight former champion DeMarco and attempt perform better than Broner did, which would be difficult, considering how dominant Broner was. If I was managing Crawford I would A) go after the 2 guys Broner failed to fight, Burns and Vazquez...also Gamboa who is undefeated and is a SMS fighter. SMS is on good business terms with Top Rank, do this is doable.
B) Get Brandon Rios after Pacquiao. He is fighting at 147, but he's more 140 or 135...he may be coming off 2 losses when Pacquiao is done with him, but his name will still hold value.
He should challenge the #1 in the division or #2 if he is #1 and then move up in weight because he can dominate lightweight all he wants but the weight class is weak. Victories over a bunch of less than decent fighters doesn't mean much. There is a much more going on at 140 lbs.
Any of those fights would work.
I think at one point he was going to fight Raymundo Beltran, but it didn't happen. I could see it happening now though, and that's a good opponent for him and never a walkover for anyone (although Crawford would clearly outbox him).
He seems to have all the tools to dominate at 135, which is not saying too much since it is such a weak division now that Broner is gone, but still, the guy has good defense, can take a punch, can box as a counter puncher, and showed on Saturday that he can be aggressive and make things happen when he needs to. I am not ready to crown him the next big thing yet because he hasn't faced any of the top competition, but who do you think he should fight next?
I think that he needs to step up to the big leagues in the next fight. Perhaps a major gate keeper like Ricardo Abril? Maybe a rugged and dangerous puncher like DeMarco? Should he challenge Vasquez and take the belt? Could he?
