The morning after the night before. I must say, I am sitting here pretty smug following Terence Crawford’s unanimous 118-107, 118-107, 117-108 points victory over Viktor Postol to become the unified WBC & WBO light welterweight champion.

I had a fair few debates, with many boxing experts, who scoffed at my opinion of Crawford possibly being in the top 3 pound for pound fighters in the world today.

Many thought Postol, who had 12 knockouts from the 28 fights, as opposed to Crawford’s 20 knockouts from 28 fights, was the favourite.

Mainly due to Postol being the bigger/taller fighter, with the longer reach. And also, following Postol’s 10th round destruction of Lucas Matthysse eight months ago.

Me personally wasn’t so sure, many predicted Crawford would struggle trying to counter the more aggressive Postol. Again, I was not so sure.

Crawford’s game plan would always have to be to stick and move, be aggressive when inside, try to tie up Postol when necessary, but use his quickness and accurate punches.

The question was, will Crawford be able to do this for 12 rounds and would he even be strong enough to do it?

Well Crawford even surprised me. He displayed a ring generalship that further strengthens my claim of him being so high in the pound for pound list.

His footwork was impeccable, was a constant moving target, showing great lateral movement with quick, stinging blows, which visibly kept Postol out of rhythm and off his game.

Postol struggled to land clean on Crawford and when he did, he found Crawford returning in kind, to cancel out any success Postol had.

Round 5 was a pivotal one with two flash knockdowns. Though Postol was not hurt in either knockdown.

It was a further indication of Crawford’s combination of quickness and power to catch an unsuspected Postol off guard.

The beginning of round 8 was almost the same as round 5.

Crawford came out quick and his first blow sent Postol stumbling, fortunately he didn’t touch down like in the fifth. But it again took Postol off his game and allowed Crawford to further counter Postol, with shots from a variable of angles throughout that round.

From then on, Crawford was dominant. Way more dominant than everyone expected and especially for such a unification bout. Crawford began to pick his punches.

When the fighters did engage, it was Crawford who caught the eye with some slick, clean, accurate punches. Postol seemed to have no answer, no plan B.

An issue that resonated with me in the fight was Postol’s inability to cut off the ring. He struggled to deal with Crawford’s perpetual movement, and this is something that has often been labelled against Freddie Roach fighters.

Though neither was in any trouble in the fight. It was a dominate display as you could have imagined in what was considered a “pick em” 50/50 fight.

Postol was unable to do anything with Crawford’s sheer skill in the ring, as the American seemed to land at will.

Crawford closed out the show in the 11th and 12th rounds still looking fresh, still moving and still landing eye-catching shots.

Postol was extremely frustrated and it showed, as he was deducted a point in the 11th for hitting Crawford on the back of his head.

In the 12th Postol, knowing he needed a knockout, forced a brawl. Even then, Crawford obliged and seemed to rock Postol, then taunted him as the fight drew to an end. It was a very impressive, sit up and take notice victory by Crawford.

Though it wasn’t the exciting, Rocky like brawl everyone predicted. It was a masterful performance in a unification bout which for me, sees Crawford easily in the top three p4p fighters and possibly above that…..

The world is really his oyster. In a world where the best boxers seem not be fighting the best.

Or so-called top fighters seem to be taking fights against lighter weight fighters. Crawford has continued to take tough fights and excel in them.

From the controlled, professional performances against Prescott & Burns. To the ultra aggressive, exciting victories against Gamboa, Dulorme & Lundy. To the intelligent, slick performances against Beltran and Postol.

He has already showed many sides and demonstrated several strings to his bow……Now if that is not a top, potential No1 caliber pound for pound fighter, I don’t know what is!