Bob Sheridan: “Manny Pacquiao still has a terrific punch, but can he go all out like Crawford?”

Hall of fame boxing commentator, ‘The Colonel’ Bob Sheridan has been a sports Broadcaster for over 40 years and has seen many of the legends of this sport rise to become world champions and superstars during their careers. Sheridan sees another star today that has the potential for that same rise as Terence Crawford is quickly becoming one of the best boxers in the sport today.

In my interview with Bob Sheridan, I discuss with him the rise of Terence Crawford and what could be next in his future. Sheridan breaks down Crawford’s performance against Viktor Postol and talks about the perception that Crawford could of scored a knockout. In Addition, Bob gives his thoughts on a Pacquiao-Crawford fight and who he thinks would win that matchup. Here is what Bob Sheridan had to say.

Robert Brown: What were your thoughts on Saturday night’s fight between Terence Crawford and Viktor Postol?

Bob Sheridan: I thought going into the fight that it was a fifty-fifty fight really. I thought that Crawford would win because I’ve broadcast so many of his fights — though I did Postol’s fight against Lucas Matthysse and he just kind of wore down Matthysse and had a great fight against him, and therefore I thought that the fight would be a lot closer, but it was basically no contest.

Crawford totally dominated this guy with the right hook from the southpaw style, and then being able to go to the body. The thing that impressed me so much for the full twelve rounds was his ability to move, slick movement too. The guy would almost get him in a corner and Crawford knew exactly how to get out of there, he punched his way out, he’d never get caught on the ropes. It was an excellent boxing performance.

(Click to listen to Sheridan’s views on Kovalev-Ward and Mundine-Green 2)

Robert Brown: Were you surprised at Postol’s inability to cut off the ring?

Bob Sheridan: Rich Marotta who was doing color with me on the telecast said the same thing, “He should try to cut him off,” and I said, “Yeah Rich, but the problem is he can’t cut him off because if he slides to one side to try to stop him from moving to his right, he’ll come right back to the left and circle you and continuously spin you around and move”.

I heard Freddie Roach on the corner one time say,” You got to quit following him.” It’s easy to say “quit following” but how are you going to cut off a guy that moves equally well right and left? I couldn’t tell Postol how to fight any better than what he did but I think that Terence Crawford moved to the big leagues last night.

I think that Crawford proved last night that he could make for an outstanding fight with Manny Pacquiao. Timothy Bradley was there too and I talked to Tim after the fight and he said, “Man, I hope he gets a shot at Pacquiao, I’d love to see what he could do with Pacquiao.”

Robert Brown: Do you think Crawford should have pushed it further and tried to knock Postol out?

Bob Sheridan: That’s hard to speculate on because he did so much and totally dominated every round, every minute of every round in the fight. I wouldn’t change any of the fight plan. You don’t have to knock the guy out with the total domination that I saw the fight. I thought everything he did was perfect. I thought that his boxing style last night was perfect.

In the last round both of them went after each other and every time that Postol tried to pick up the pace, Crawford was able to answer. I can’t recall more than a couple of times that Terence got hit very hard. He did so much defensive work that some people say he ran, but he didn’t run, I thought he totally dictated the fight and that to me is ring generalship.

Robert Brown: There is talk that Crawford could get Manny Pacquiao next, if that fight happens how do you see it playing out?

Bob Sheridan: Great fighter like both of these guys are, they come up with super events. Is it the passing of the torch? Maybe. Can Pacquiao come up with one more super effort? I didn’t think so, I thought the timing was right for Timothy Bradley to be able to beat him in the last fight and Pacquiao came up with a super effort. Can he do it again? Yeah he could.

Right now it’s just hard for me to see Crawford being dominated by Manny, but Manny is a pressure fighter but with Crawford’s movement, it’s not going to be easy for Manny to catch up with him either.

Robert Brown: Would you favor Crawford at this point?

Bob Sheridan: Yeah at this point I’d be slightly favoring him. With the type of movement that he used and his ability to go southpaw for most of the fight, or fight him right handed, I don’t think that would confuse Pacquiao whatsoever, but whether Pacquiao at this age now could continue the kind of movement that Crawford can show you for a full twelve rounds, that’s a tough thing to do.

Manny still has a terrific punch and he sets a big pace, he was like the Energizer Bunny most of his career, but at this stage of his career, can he go all out like Crawford? Crawford was all out the entire fight, constantly moving and never showing any signs of running out of gas. With the flip of the coin just barely tipping over the Crawford side, that’s the way I’d go right now.