Terence Crawford to face Henry Lundy on Feb. 27

Jan

Photo credit: Chris Farina/Top Rank Promotions

Terence Crawford may not have landed a fight against Manny Pacquiao but that won’t stop him from achieving his goal of becoming the best American-born fighter in boxing today.

Crawford will defend his WBO junior welterweight title against Henry Lundy on Feb. 27 inside the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The bout, along with the showdown between unbeaten lightweights Felix Verdejo and William Silva, will air on HBO.

A press conference will take place at Chase Square at the Garden on Tuesday to officially announce the fight.

Crawford was in the running to face Pacquiao on Apr. 9 in Las Veags, along with Timothy Bradley and Amir Khan. Pacquiao ultimately selected Bradley in what is reported to be the former’s farewell bout.

A former RING lightweight champion, Crawford (27-0, 19 knockouts) successfully defended the WBO title in his last bout on Oct. 24 in his hometown of Omaha, Neb., dominating and eventually stopping Dierry Jean in the 10th round.

Along with his win over Jean, the 28-year-old Crawford also has stoppage wins over Thomas Dulorme and Yuriorkis Gamboa.

In his last bout on Oct. 17, Lundy (26-5-1, 13 KOs) stopped Carlos Winston Velasquez in the fifth round in Uncasville, Conn.

Before a fight was finalized with Crawford, there was talk of Lundy facing unbeaten Frankie Gomez on Feb. 5 but the fight never materialized.

Prior to the Velasquez fight, Lundy lost two very close bouts, a 10-round split decision to Dulorme in Dec. of 2014 and a fifth round technical majority decision to Mauricio Herrera on July 11.

As for Verdejo, it will be a quick turnaround, as he will be facing a rival with a significant height and reach advantage.

Verdejo (19-0, 14 KOs) scored an emphatic second round stoppage win over Josenilson Dos Santos on Dec. 11 in his hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

It was his first fight in almost six months. The 22-year-old Verdejo recovered from surgery in his left hand, a procedure to remove bone spurs.

Silva (23-0, 14 KOs), who signed with Top Rank Promotions last year, also won by knockout on Dec. 11 in San Juan, stopping Bayal Jargan in the third round.

Silva, 28, resides in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since Oct. of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.