Bad news, everyone. Pound for pound elite and recent former undisputed junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford has suffered a hand injury in sparring. Not only will his welterweight debut against Jeff Horn need to be delayed, but the entire card is being moved back alongside the main event. Jessie Magdaleno versus Isaac Dogboe will now main event its own new card two weeks later.
April 14th was supposed to be the date Terence Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) officially put the welterweight division on notice, but that plan is no more. The arguable pound for pound king will not be making his divisional debut in an effort to lift the WBO belt from Jeff Horn (18-0-1, 12 KOs) on that date. Reportedly, Crawford has suffered a hand injury in sparring that requires him to rest if over the next few weeks.
Top Rank kingpin Bob Arum had this to say to ESPN:
“He hurt his hand hitting a guy on top of the head gear. We’ve gotten him treated by the best hand doctors. He had an MRI, and there is no ligament tear, thank God. The doctor prescribed two weeks of rest, and then he should be ready to go. We’ll put the fight sometime in late May or early June, but that depends on how Terence’s hand is feeling.”
The co-main event to the show was supposed to be an excellent WBO super bantamweight title defense from Jessie Magdaleno (25-0, 18 KOs) against rising Ghanaian contender Isaac Dogboe (18-0, 12 KOs). That fight will be pushed back too, but not for as long as the highly anticipated Crawford v Horn showdown. Instead, Magdaleno versus Dogboe will now main event its own Top Rank on ESPN card on April 28th. Philadelphia is reportedly the target city for that new card.
Arum has also said it remains unclear where the third title fight scheduled for the April 14th show will land. Jonas Sultan’s (14-3, 9 KOs) shot against IBF super flyweight titleholder Jerwin Ancajas (29-1-1, 20 KOs) may end up being pushed back to the new date, or Arum said alternatively it could end up on yesterday’s announced Vasyl Lomachenko versus Jorge Linares card on May 12th.
Here is to “Bud” Crawford healing up and getting this fight together before summer.
