Terence Crawford vs. Jeff Horn Fight Preview and Prediction to Win
When: Saturday, June 9, 2018
Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
TV: PPV
Weight Class: Welterweight: 147 Pounds
Titles: WBO Welterweight Title
By Loot, Boxing Handicapper, Lootmeister.com
Terence Crawford, 32-0 (23 KOs), Omaha, Nebraska
Vs.
Jeff Horn, 18-0-1 (12 KOs), Brisbane, Australia
Betting Odds: Terence Crawford (-2000), Jeff Horn (+1100)
Terence Crawford takes on Jeff Horn in Las Vegas on June 9 in a battle of undefeated welterweights for the WBO world welterweight title. Crawford is a two-division champion looking for a third belt at 147 pounds. This is his first fight at the weight and he takes on the unbeaten Horn. The Aussie will be fighting for the first time outside his homeland. He is coming off a controversial win over Manny Pacquiao two fights ago and is looking for a huge win to put his name up near the elite of the sport.
The multi-talented Crawford is considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. At 30, he has done everything asked of him thus far. He had an illustrious amateur career, eventually winning a lightweight title in 2014 with a big road-win over Ricky Burns in Scotland. After beating Ray Beltran, he moved up to 140 and resumed his dominance with wins over some good fighters. In 2016, he scored a big unification win over unbeaten Viktor Postol in stunningly easy fashion. Stoppage wins over John Molina, Jr., Felix Diaz and another titleholder in Julius Indongo followed and Crawford is now ready to showcase his wares at 147.
We'll see if Crawford is able to bring his menace up to this weight. He's not really big for a welterweight and he might not carry his power up to welter. The top welterweights are a pretty robust group. But it's a good move, with the big fight opportunities limited at 140 pounds, especially after he cleaned out the division. At welterweight, there is any number of interesting possibilities. Horn represents an interesting entrance-exam. Crawford is rightfully a large favorite, but Horn is a handful and a big 147-pounder with a lot of ambition and mental fortitude.
The backlash over the decision Horn got against Pacquiao was overstated to a large degree. One is certainly within their right to think Pacquiao deserved the decision. And if the fight weren't in Australia, it's hard to envision Horn getting the nod. That might all be true, but a classic robbery it was not. Sure, it's all a matter of opinion, but I think some groupthink and the announcers not acknowledging the changing tone of the fight led some people astray. Horn performed capably in his first major test and in many ways, rose to the occasion on that July 2017 night. Since then, Horn looked pretty good in a title defense over countryman Gary Corcoran in December, registering an 11th-round TKO.
When he was doing well, Horn was able to get inside on Pacquiao. He showed a good motor, with commendable stamina throughout a demanding 12-round fight against a still-dangerous Pacquiao. There was a robustness to his attack, as well as some high-level ring generalship for such an inexperienced fighter on the world stage. He roughed up Pacquiao a lot. He uses his head in a way that doesn't look dirty perhaps, but can make it a hard night on his opponents. Sure, the wheels came off in the ninth round and Horn was nearly stopped. But it shows that he has the wherewithal to overcome adversity. In other words, when looking at Horn, there are some definite things to like.
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Obviously, there are some drawbacks with an underdog of this magnitude that make Horn less than an attractive choice. At some points in the Pac fight, Horn couldn't block the straight left and Crawford wields a nice left, as he switches seamlessly from southpaw to orthodox. Horn isn't slow or not a hard puncher, but he's not terribly gifted in those areas, either. He isn't all that fluid and lacks the naturalness of boxing that Crawford exemplifies.
Crawford has an abundance of craft. He's really slick in there and gifted across all areas upon which a fighter is judged. It's the full combination of skills that make him so hard to beat. He changes stances so seamlessly, which has a way of forcing opponents into a reactive mode where their offense is muted. He's very fast, with his punches being very suddenly-launched. He is great with distance, while working angles to give his defense another layer of sophistication. Helping him do that are a pair of good feet that enable to him to immediately change position and stay balanced enough to remain dangerous. He operates with the lethal combination of a high ring IQ and a ruthless mindset. After moving up twice in weight, he will now have the chance to show he can make this all work at the top levels of the sport.
Opponents don't seem their normal selves against Crawford. Guys who had looked good in fights right before fighting Crawford are suddenly flummoxed and lost. He's very hard in which to get a solid read. His reflexes are cat-quick and along with all his angles and movement, it's not easy to get a good shot off on him. Opponents face the prospects of not only a physically draining fight with Crawford where they will get beaten up, but fighting Crawford comes at a mental toll. Fighters seem to run out of ideas. At his best and when he gets cooking in a fight, he leaves nothing to chance and doesn't let anything slide. Crawford is a fighter who really gets the most of what he has. And in the ring, he is great with all the little details.
Crawford is rising in weight. And maybe the full scope of Horn's talents is not yet known. The Aussie does not pass the eye-test in a lot of categories in which we typically judge top fighters. But there is a certain underlying air of quality that might be overlooked. He has a great motor and just a general way of being more-difficult to fight than what footage suggests. I just see what worked well against a fading Pacquiao not going over so big against a peak Terence Crawford. The things that didn't cost him quite so bad will cost him here. No rounds total has been posted as of press time, but I don't see this going the distance and will be looking for a position on the "under" for this bout.
Loot's Pick to Win the Fight: I'm taking the "under" in the Crawford-Horn fight. Bet this fight for FREE by taking advantage of a massive 100% sign-up bonus on your first deposit of $100 to $500 at GTBets!
