Terence Crawford’s injured hand causes postponed fight

Terence Crawford, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters, won’t be making his welterweight debut next month.

Crawford was scheduled to challenge WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn on April 14 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, but the ESPN-televised card was postponed after Crawford sustained a hand injury during sparring.

Top Rank is considering moving the bout to May 19 or to June, according to an official from the Las Vegas-based company. There’s a chance the fight doesn’t take place in Las Vegas.

Bob Arum, Top Rank’s promoter, had big plans for the April card before multiple setbacks occurred for the event that wasn’t officially announced.

Arum was hopeful of having Manny Pacquiao fight Mike Alvarado on the card for an ESPN pay-per-view tripleheader. Las Vegas’ Jessie Magdaleno was scheduled to open the show with a junior featherweight title defense against Isaac Dogboe.

Pacquiao declined Arum’s offer. The Filipino senator and former eight-division champion is eyeing a fight against Lucas Matthysse. Magdaleno-Dogboe is reportedly moving to April 28.

Crawford unified the four major belts of the 140-pound division in August. Horn defeated Pacquiao in Australia last year.

Lara vs. Hurd

Erislandy Lara, the longest reigning junior middleweight champion, will meet Jarrett “Swift” Hurd in a 154-pound unification bout April 7 at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel.

Lara, a three-year WBA champion, and Hurd, the IBF titlist, will headline a Showtime-televised doubleheader. In the co-main event, Caleb Truax will make his first title defense against James DeGale in a super middleweight bout.

Tickets can be purchased on Axs.com and at the Hard Rock Hotel box office.

Lara (25-2-2, 14 knockouts) has struggled to land a major bout since falling to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in a split decision in 2014 at the MGM Grand. The Cuban champion is a matchup nightmare with his methodical approach in the ring to fluster opponents.

“I plan on being the aggressor for the entire fight, so I’ve been doing some exercises and working on techniques to improve my foot work so that I can stay on top of Erislandy Lara,” said Hurd (21-0, 15 KOs). “We are not trying to go to the scorecards, so hopefully I can be the first man to stop him.”

What to watch Saturday

Jose Ramirez and Amir Imam will fight Saturday for the WBC junior welterweight title, a belt vacated by Crawford. The 140-pound bout will headline an ESPN tripleheader that airs at 5 p.m.

The matchup reunites legendary promoters and former bitter foes. Arum promotes Ramirez, and Imam is represented by Don King.

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Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GManzano24 on Twitter.