HBO unofficial judge and analyst Harold Lederman gives his thoughts on Saturday night's main event between Terence Crawford (26-0, 18 KO) and Dierry Jean (29-1, 20 KO), for Crawford's WBO junior welterweight title.
"Terence Crawford is not a star in the making, he is a star. The guy's from Omaha, Nebraska, and when he fights in Omaha, Nebraska, the whole midwest turns out. Dierry Jean, they call him 'Dougy Style,' he's a Haitian from Canada, he lives in Montreal, and the kid can really fight.
"Coming down from Canada, he's gonna be in a bad situation because of the fact that he's gotta deal with that hometown crowd. The crowd gets to you. It gets to the judges, it gets to the fighters, it inspires Crawford. Dierry Jean is gonna have to box, use his good right hand, use the good combinations he throws, try to build up a big lead and then not get knocked out and win a decision, which is not easy in the other guy's hometown.
"Terence Crawford is a slow starter. He's liable to give up the first five or six rounds, then come on like gangbusters. We saw him do that against Yuriorkis Gamboa, who's a good fighter. Then we saw him do it with Thomas Dulorme on HBO. Terence Crawford just felt him out.
"There's a lot of great fights coming up at 140 for the winner. There's a lot of inspiration there. Without a doubt, it's gonna be a very interesting night of boxing."