Mitch Abramson
Staples Center emerges as favorite to land Crawford-Postol on July 23
Mitch Abramson
March 23, 2016
Terence Crawford tags Hank Lundy with a left back on Feb. 27. Photo: Naoki Fukuda
Discussions between Terence Crawford and Viktor Postol to meet on July 23 in a junior welterweight unification match have yielded a preferred destination to host the fight: Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum told RingTV.com on Wednesday. While Las Vegas still remains an option, Arum said that Los Angeles has emerged as the more probable setting for the HBO PPV bout.
“I think it looks more and more likely it will be in LA, probably at Staples,” Arum said in a brief phone interview on Wednesday. “We’re working on it. We’re right in the middle of it.” Arum would like to stack the PPV undercard with appearances in separate bouts by WBO welterweight titleholder Jessie Vargas and undefeated super middleweight Gilberto Ramirez (33-0, 24 KOs), who challenges Arthur Abraham for the WBO title on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradly on April 9 in Las Vegas, he said.
If Los Angeles emerges as the winner of the Crawford-Postol sweepstakes it would likely favor Postol, a native of the Ukraine who makes his home there. Postal (28-0, 12 knockouts) has fought two of his last three fights in California while the Omaha-native Crawford (28-0, 20 KOs) has never fought in the Golden State.
Arum is also trying to finalize an attractive June 11 match-up between WBO featherweight titleholder Vasyl Lomachenko (5-1, 3 KOs) and former champion Nicholas Walters (26-0-1, 21 KOs) at Madison Square Garden’s Theater in a junior lightweight bout. The highly regarded prospect Felix Verdejo is slated as the co-feature on the HBO broadcast. For Verdejo (20-0, 14 KOs) to appear on the card, however, he has to emerge from an April 16 UniMas show in Puerto Rico. Opponents for both bouts are still undetermined, Top Rank VP Carl Moretti said.
Arum declined to give an update on the status of Lomachenko-Walters other than to say he’s also, “Working on it.” Walters has reportedly balked at the money being offered and Arum has several fill-in opponents ready if a deal can’t be made. Arum didn’t want to explore that scenario on Wednesday and declined to name the opponents-in-waiting. So they continue to wait. As does the public to a resolution on these two attractive cards.
Staples Center emerges as favorite to land Crawford-Postol on July 23 - Ring TV
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