Daredevil

Paul Wheeler previews Khan’s bold bid to solve the Crawford conundrum

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THE CASE FOR CRAWFORD

A QUICK glance at Terence Crawford and Amir Khan’s respective records offers an indication as to why the former is a massive favourite with the bookmakers. Whereas Omaha’s Crawford is unbeaten with 34 wins, Bolton’s Khan, who has 33 victories, has lost four times. Furthermore, three of these losses – Breidis Prescott, Danny Garcia and Canelo Alvarez – have come inside the distance and in devastating fashion.

While Khan has suffered multiple knockdowns (including most recently against the unheralded Samuel Vargas in September), Crawford is known for having a solid chin and strong defence. Additionally, nearly three-quarters of the American’s successes have been by way of stoppage or KO, compared to just over half of Khan’s. Though all bar two of Crawford’s triumphs have come at lightweight or superlightweight, his pair of welterweight outings have both ended via the early route (versus Jeff Horn and Jose Benavidez Jnr last year), showing that he carries power up at 147lbs.