This Saturday, at the
Manchester Arena, boxing fans were treated to a tactical masterclass when he
pulled off a seventh-round stoppage against Venezuelan, Ismael Barroso. The
under-card may have been a complete disgrace but the main event more than lived
up to its billing with Crolla, one of the most liked guys in the sport
knocking-out the dark horse of the lightweight division.
It is fair to say that
many boxing pundits, including myself, picked Barroso to knock Crolla out as he
had done in his fight with Kevin Mitchell back in December. Barroso looked
really impressive in the first four rounds, dominating the action from the beginning
however Crolla never looked out of sorts and he kept catching Barroso with
shots as the Venezuelan came forward.
Joe Gallagher, who has
received a lot of stick from the boxing world, must be credited with this
performance. Although he used the same tactics he does for almost all of his
other fights, it worked perfectly for a fighter like Barroso. Crolla kept
himself in the fight and made Barroso do all the work in the early rounds
before finishing him with a trademark Gallagher left-hook to the body.
Where does Crolla go
from here? That is the big question on everyone’s lips. The fight that everyone
wants to see is with fellow Mancunian, Terry Flanagan. Apart from Jorge
Linares, who, in my opinion, is levels above both fighters due to the way he
mixes up his punches and the body work he puts in.
That is the fight that
everyone wants to see. It is not often that two fighters from the same
division, the same city and both hold world titles have the opportunity to
fight each other. However because of the political divide between Eddie Hearn
and Frank Warren, it is unlikely that they will let their fighter fight on the
other promoter’s channel.
One could certainly
argue that Crolla is one of the most improved British fighters at this moment
in time and his win against Barroso certainly confirms this. Dejan Zlaticanin
can certainly be placed in the ‘who needs him’ category but a fight with either
Jorge Linares or Terry Flanagan is what Crolla should be looking at. For now,
he should enjoy the success he has certainly earnt this Saturday but keep one
eye on the future in the meantime.
Tom Eckett
@boxingguru44
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