Terence Crawford and Amir Khan officially announced their expected April 20 pay-per-view this morning in London and wasted no time and touting the importance of their technical skills in this matchup.
Crawford, who will be making the second defense of his WBO welterweight title, takes pride in being a strategic fighter and believes this is the key advantage he holds over Khan.
“Everybody knows he’s a fast puncher and a great boxer,” said Crawford. “I just think my smartness and timing will lead me to victory.
“I can adjust in the blink of an eye. I’ve fought so many styles and been able to adjust to all of them. There’s never been a fighter I couldn’t figure out.”
Khan is 5-0 in welterweight fights since entering the division in 2013. His lone defeat during this period came when he went up two weight classes to challenge Canelo Alvarez for the WBC middleweight title.
Now back with Virgil Hunter, Khan is confident he can figure out Crawford’s switch-hitting style.
“I’ve had a great career with Virgil,” said Khan. “The only fight we lost together was against Canelo, a bigger and stronger guy. When it comes to boxing skills, I was outboxing him until he caught me with a big shot.
“I will have to be in the best shape ever to win this. It will be a very hard fight. He’s a very unorthodox switch hitter with power in both hands. We’ll have to go through a lot of sparring fighters… Crawford will be one of the best technical fighters we’ve fought.”
The champion almost agreed, but slyly balked at being grouped with any previous Khan opponent.
“The boxers he’s fought don’t have the same tools I have. Closest was Zab Judah and he was past his prime. I’ll be the best boxer he’s ever faced.”
The venue for Crawford vs. Khan is expected to be announced next week.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 