Crawford and Lundy Both Promise To Win

By Michael Woods

The estimation of his talent is immense and growing, in certain circles. Real knows real, and you hear the name Terence Crawford pop up often when ace pugilists are asked who they consider fellow studs in the realm. “Bud” believes he is in the uppermost echelon of pugilists, but his foe tonight thinks he has the skill set to take him down a peg. Hank Lundy talks a superb game and we will see if his walk matches his muscular mouth in NYC.

Tune in on HBO, and watch all the undercard fights from the Top Rank card on their website. I will provide the blow by blow call, with analysis from Monte Barrett and Crystina Poncher.

Check out some quotes from the boxers:

TERENCE CRAWFORD / HANK LUNDY
PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

TERENCE “Bud” CRAWFORD

“Fighting at Madison Square Garden…headlining the event at the Mecca of Boxing is personally historic.

“I love to give back…to my community…to the sport of boxing…and on Saturday night I'm going to give something back to Lundy. I'm going to show him that punches hurt a lot more than words.

“Manny [Pacquiao] is the only fighter in the Top Rank stable who can take me to the next level. [Viktor] Postol is good but only real boxing fans know him.

“With Lundy, I need to look out for head butts, low blows and elbows. He's going to get rough in this one. But once he gets careless, and he will, he's going down.

“Lundy's trash talk makes me laugh. But I don't think he'll be laughing too much on Saturday night. Deep down in his soul he knows what he's in for. He'll respect me Saturday. Don't blink. It might be a quick one.”

“Hammerin'” HANK LUNDY

“It's going to be a war. I'm going to be the new champion of the world. It's going to be a new life for my family and for me when I go home as world champion.

[Regarding press conference scuffle] “He can't take the pressure. I'm in his head. I have him. I'm going to beat his ass and he is going to feel these hammers.

“Crawford is going to feel my pain, my struggle and all of Philadelphia. I'm going to crack his head like the Liberty Bell.

“Tell Crawford to bring some suspenders to The Garden on Saturday because when I take that belt off of him he's going to need them to hold up his pants.”

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Undefeated superstar champions TERENCE “Bud” CRAWFORD and FELIX “El Diamante” VERDEJO will make their 2016 debuts in title defenses,This Saturday! February 27, at the “Mecca of Boxing” — The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Crawford, the two-division world champion and 2014 Fighter of the Year will be defending his World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior welterweight world championship belt against Top-10 contender “Hammerin'” HANK LUNDY. Verdejo, the boxing gem of Puerto Rico, will be risking his WBO Latino lightweight title crown and his march to a world title shot when he rumbles with undefeated Brazilian buzz saw WILLIAM “Baby Face” SILVA. Both fights will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

These four warriors boast a combined record of 95-5-1 (60 KOs) — a winning percentage of 94% with close to 2/3 of their victories coming by way of knockout.

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Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with Jimmy Burchfield's Classic Entertainment & Sports (CES), Diamante Promotions and Madison Square Garden, any remaining tickets to the Crawford vs. Lundy / Verdejo vs. Silva championship doubleheader, priced at $300, $200, $100, $50 and $25, can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008), and online at www.ticketmaster.com and www.thegarden.com.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, or twitter.com/hboboxing. Use the Hashtags #CrawfordLundy or #VerdejoSilva to join the conversation o