Terence Crawford vs Amir Khan Fight Card 4/20/19 Preview and Prediction

Terence “Bud”Crawford defends his WBO welterweight title against Amir “King” Khan on April 20, 2019 at the fabled Madison Square Garden in New York.

Crawford, a former lightweight champion and undisputed junior welterweight champion, will make the second defense of the 147-pound belt he won by knocking out Jeff Horn in June 2018. Bud made a successful first defense when he knocked out a game Jose Benavidez Jr. in 12 rounds last October.

Khan, Britain’s silver medalist in the 2004 Olympic Games, has won world titles at 140-pounds and is a former unified junior welterweight champion. He is one of England’s most popular boxers and was one of its youngest boxing world champions. Khan is two fights removed from a devastating knockout loss to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez when he (Khan) moved up two weight classes to challenge Alvarez for the world middleweight title.

We already wrote our preview and prediction piece for the Crawford vs Khan title bout here. At that time, Crawford was a -1000 favorite against the underdog Khan who came back at +500. With less than two weeks to go before the fight, Crawford is now a -2000 at betonline.ag as of 4/9/19 while Khan is up to +900. On the other hand, Bet365 also has Crawford at -1600 and Khan at +800 so if you have not made your bets yet, it’s going to cost you if you want to bet on Bud Crawford.

Khan has gotten more juicy at +800 and +900 but I don’t see how he beats Terence Crawford in this fight. Crawford is younger, faster, smarter and maybe has more power than Khan. But if Crawford is too expensive now, how can we make money off him? Easy, there are other bets for the fight, the prop bets and we also discussed those in our previous article. Let’s discuss them briefly here:

• Over/Under Rounds ? We picked under 9.5 rounds which is now at -188.
• Will the Fight Go The Distance? We said no and that bet costs -300 as of 4/9/19.

The main reason why we picked the fight not to go the distance is Amir Khan. If you’re a boxing fan, you know what Amir Khan is made of, or at least what his chin is made of. People like to call him Glass Jaw Khan and that’s been his reputation. No doubt, we’ve seen videos of Khan’s hand speed and we’ve seen that hand speed inside the ring. But more than whatever talent and skill Khan has, it’s always been his glass jaw that’s preceded him. Now what about a much older Khan with the same glass jaw? I think Crawford, with all his technical expertise, is going to find that glass jaw and expose it for the Nth time. As for 9.5 rounds, well three out of Khan’s four losses have been knockouts and none of these came after round 6. I have confidence in Terence Crawford’s power and I think that he’s going to stop Amir Khan in the middle rounds.

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Now let’s take a look at the other fights in the Crawford vs Khan main card:

Teofimo Lopez vs Edis Tatli

Teofimo Lopez represented Honduras in the 2016 Olympics and was signed by Bob Arum right after the Rios games. Lopez is 5-8 and has a reach of 68 inches while fighting as an orthodox fighter. The 21 year old from Brooklyn, New York is 12-0 with 10 knockouts. In his last bout, Lopez knocked out Diego Magdaleno within seven rounds to retain the NABF lightweight title.

Edis Tatli is a former European lightweight champion who also challenged for the WBA lightweight belt in 2014, losing to Richard Abril by majority decision. The 31 year old Finn has a record of 31-2 with 10 knockouts. He’s fought outside Finland just once and this will be his first bout on U.S. soil.

Teofimo Lopez vs Edis Tatli Odds

This is going to be a test for Lopez as even if he already proved himself by knocking out Magdaleno, his fight resume isn’t as impressive. Tatli is a European level fighter who doesn’t have the knockout power to threaten Lopez, but he is a durable opponent who is likely going to take Lopez to the trenches. Tatli is here to win and while Lopez will probably have the last laugh, it won’t be a walk in the park as Bob Arum expects. Prediction: Teofimo Lopez by decision.

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Felix Verdejo vs Bryan Vasquez

The 25 year old Verdejo has a record of 24-1 with 16 knockouts. The Puerto Rican 2012 Olympian suffered his first loss to little known Antonio Lozada last year, getting knocked out in the final round of the fight where he was up in two out of three scorecards. Verdejo is 5-9 and has a reach of 73 inches while fighting from the orthodox stance.

Costa Rica’s Vasquez has a record of 37-3 with 20 knockouts. He stands 5-5 and has a reach of 66 ½ inches while fighting out of the orthodox stance. He is the former interim WBA super featherweight champion but has lost to every big name he’s faced: Takashi Uchiyama, Javier Fortuna and Ray Beltran.

Felix Verdejo vs Bryan Vasquez Odds

Verdejo’s never looked the same since that motorcycle accident or maybe he was just all hype when he entered the professional ranks. Vasquez is a no-nonsense guy who is tough and has power. But when you look at the tale of the tape, there’s just too much size difference between these two. Felix Verdejo is going to use those to his advantage and win this fight on points. Prediction: Felix Verdejo by decision

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Shakur Stevenson vs Christopher Diaz

Stevenson stands 5-8 and has a reach of 68 inches. The 21 year old from Newark, New Jersey fights out of the southpaw stance and has a professional boxing record of 10-0 with six knockouts to his credit. The Olympic silver medalist is lightning quick, has fast hands and has some serious knockout power for a fighter in the lower weight classes.

Diaz is 24 years old and has an impressive record of 24-1 with 16 knockouts. His only loss was a 12-round unanimous decision setback at the hands of Masayuki Ito when he challenged for the vacant WBO super featherweight title. Diaz is 5-6 tall and has a reach of 64 inches while fighting as an orthodox fighter. The 2016 ESPN Deportes Prospect of the Year also has knockout power and an excellent counter puncher.

Shakur Stevenson vs Christopher Diaz Odds

In his only loss, Diaz faced an opponent who was equally aggressive as he was and good as an offensive fighter Diaz is, he seems uncomfortable when his opponent throws more punches than him. That’s going to be a problem against Stevenson who is an offensive machine. I think Stevenson gets the better of Diaz in the exchanges and wins this fight on points. Prediction: Shakur Stevenson by decision

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