Alex's Boxing Picks for 6/9/2018

Alex’s Boxing Picks for 6/9/2018

Crawford Vs Horn- The biggest fight of the weekend is with out a doubt the 147 title fight between pound for pound candidate Terrance Crawford and current welterweight champion Jeff Horn. Crawford is moving up in weight after clearing out the 140lb division and making a strong case to be #1 on the pound for pound list. He hasn’t just won he has dominated by stopping almost all of his recent opponents or winning thoroughly one sided decisions. He is the portrait of a boxer puncher, rounded in all aspects of boxing he can fight from the outside using his superior skill or go for the aggressive finish when he has a guy hurt. Crawford is at his peak and even though he is moving up in weight he has to be the favorite in this fight based on what he has done so far.

Jeff Horn has burst onto the mainstream boxing scene in a less than stellar way. Back in the summer of 2017 Manny Pacquiao traveled to Horn’s home country of Australia to fight for a 147lb title. Many people did not give Horn much of a chance mostly based on the huge gap in experience between the fighters. Horn however made a fight of it and brawled his way to a highly debatable win in a fight that many scored for Pacquiao. The fight was a messy affair due to the thuggish nature in which Horn boxes but he was able to have some success against Manny on the inside and managed to survive a nightmare of a 9^th round where he seemed to be seconds from being stopped. After winning the belt he made one defense against Gary Corcoran a solid fighter but far from the class that Crawford has been dominating.

Horn is in for the toughest fight of his career by far against Terrance Crawford he will be the underdog and he will need to have a near perfect night to pull the upset off. He has shown he has a ton of heart and is capable of rising to a challenge but I don’t think in this case it will be enough. Crawford is just that good he is on a different level than Horn so much so that I think the move up in weight will be a non-issue entirely. Expect a wild fight I think Horn will make it interesting and we will see a rough, physical affair as he tries to bully Crawford. Eventually though the gap in skill will be evident and I think Crawford will be able to stop Horn late after starting to land more and more clean shots.

Pick-Crawford late TKO 9<

Charlo vs Trout - The Charlo twin still at 154 faces off against former champ Austin Trout in the co feature for the Santa Cruz-Mares rematch. This is an interesting fight for Charlo who is coming off a first round KO of Erikson Lubin. Austin Trout is coming off a win since being stopped by Jarrett Hurd in a brutal war of attrition. Trout has been through some tough fights that have definitely taken a toll on his body his loss to Hurd was especially brutal and he took alot of shots that he probably shouldn't have before his corner stopped the fight. However against the bigger punching twin Jermall he did quite well and fought a very close fight that saw him lose a decision. Jermell isn't quite the puncher his brother is but he has found his KO groove as of late stopping 4 of his last 5 opponents. That being said he does get into trouble in fights and was having issues with John Jackson before ultimately knocking him out. John Jackson is a big puncher but he is not as slick as Trout. Jermell is a great all around fighter who is technically sound and makes adjustments during the fight that make him a little more of a complete fighter than his brother. His brother is a KO artist but Jermell is a better boxer who has decent power. If this fight was a few years earlier I would be more inclined to favor Trout actually because he does have the style to give anybody issues. He is a southpaw with a great jab and is hard to hit clean. However he has taken too many tough fights and I think he isn't the same fighter that he was. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a close fight that goes the distance but more likely I think we're going to see a fight were Charlo wears down Trout en route to a late TKO.

Pick-Charlo TKO 7<

Santa Cruz vs Mares II- A rematch that may be a little late we are getting another edition of what was a classic in 2015 between Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares. The first fight was a back and forth battle that ended with Santa Cruz taking the win based on his non stop punching and high accuracy. Both fighters left it all in the ring and it was a very fan friendly fight. How could it not be though you have too guys that have only one gear which is offense offense offense. Santa Cruz especially is a grinder of a fighter who doesn't stop throwing from round 1 to 12. Mares is a similar style but he does have the ability to box he just doesn't do it very often. This fight should have been an immediate rematch but we had to wait 3 years so here we are. Mares is a little more worn out than Santa Cruz and I think he will show it this fight. He isn't as fresh as Leo and I don't know if he can stand the same style of fight this time around. Santa Cruz is not a huge puncher so I don't think that he can stop Mares but I think it will be a one sided affair in his favor.

Pick-Santa Cruz by wide UD