Terence Crawford comes full circle in Las Vegas

The last time Terence Crawford fought in Las Vegas he was thrown into the co-main event to Brandon Rios-Mike Alvarado II as an injury replacement opponent for Breidis Prescott in 2013.

Crawford walked into the ring at the Mandalay Bay Events Center as an unknown fighter looking for an upset against the bigger Prescott, who was knocking out opponents regularly and had a signature victory over Amir Khan.

Crawford, making his first appearance at junior welterweight, defeated Prescott by unanimous decision and was on his way to stardom.

Now the Omaha, Nebraska, native returns to the Strip as a headline fighter. Crawford will make his pay-per-view debut when he takes on Viktor Postol in a unification fight July 23 at the MGM Grand Garden.

Crawford recalled being smaller against Prescott and how it took him time to adjust to the 140-pound level.

“I’m bigger and stronger,” Crawford said. “I was a little lightweight moving up to 140 to fight a big, strong puncher, and now I feel like I’ve grown into the weight class and I’m more prepared for the weight class now.”

Crawford is more than prepared for the weight class. He’s been dominating the division, but he will finally meet a fighter of his caliber in Postol.

Postol also had his own surprise victory when he defeated Lucas Matthysse for the WBC title last year.

Crawford, the WBO champion, said he’s on track weight- and training-wise with the fight two weeks away. Brian McIntyre, Crawford’s longtime trainer, said he’s had his fighter sparring and swimming three times a week.

McIntyre is well aware of the 25 jabs Postol averages per round. He’s had Crawford’s sparring partners emulate Postol’s style.

“Terence has grown in every fight, that’s his style,” McIntyre said. “He’s pretty much making his own way for himself. He’s come a long way since (the Prescott) fight.”

GGG-BROOK MATCH

In some surprising Friday morning news, Gennady Golovkin and Kell Brook announced they’ll meet at 160 pounds Sept. 10 at the O2 Arena in London.

The match is a compelling one between two prominent boxers, but the weight makes this puzzling. Brook is the IBF champion at 147 pounds, and Golovkin has three major belts at 160.

Brook is a talented fighter, but he could be in trouble against the power puncher who has knocked out his past 22 opponents.

Brook’s decision to fight Golovkin means a planned welterweight unification bout with Las Vegan Jessie Vargas is off. Brook and Vargas had previously agreed to terms but never finalized the matchup.

KOVALEV ON MONDAY CARD

Sergey Kovalev faces Isaac Chilemba in a rare Monday night match in Ekaterinburg, Russia. The fight will be shown on HBO at 7:15 p.m.

If Kovalev wins as he’s supposed to, he’ll be closer to fighting Andre Ward for a light heavyweight showdown Nov. 19 at T-Mobile Arena. Ward needs to beat Alexander Brand next month for the fight to happen.

‘ZURDO’ INJURY

Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez is off the Crawford-Postol card after injuring his right hand during training this week.

Ramirez is a rising Mexican fighter who won the super middleweight WBO belt in April at the MGM Grand Garden. He was supposed to be the co-main event for July 23 against Dominik Britsch.

PBC ON ESPN

Mario Barrios fights Devis Boschiero in the main event Saturday of a Premier Boxing Champions card on ESPN. The card airs at 6 p.m.

Barrios moved his training camp from San Antonio to Las Vegas for the fight in Trenton, New Jersey.

“Training has been great,” Barrios said. “We trained in Las Vegas for a large portion of this camp. We had some good runs at 7,500 feet of elevation, and I feel very ready for Saturday.”

Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0492. Follow him on Twitter: @gmanzano24