Klimas says Crawford top p4p fighter in the world
GL: Congrats on Gvozdyk's victory. Can you give us some thoughts on his performance? I think his performance was brilliant. Everything went as planned. I think he went into the ring not rushing, just to see what Baker brought in the first four rounds. He didn't really throw a hard punch in those rounds, every punch was thrown at 20-50%. He felt good and he was ready to go the distance if he had to, he won every single round, then after the fourth round he switched gears in round five and came out for round six and performed brilliantly.Â
GL: Do you think he would have started faster if Baker would have been more interested in fighting?Â
Egis Klimas: "That could be and I thought about that too. Baker was very careful in there and afraid to catch Oleksandr's hands. It always depends on who your opponent is, which is what I told Top Rank yesterday. The better the opponents they give him, the better he's going to be looking in the ring."
GL: What's next for Gvozdyk now?
EK: "We want to fight for the title, but I don't know or think any of the champions want to fight him right now. We'll see if we can make something happen with Andre Ward or Adonis Stevenson, and if we can't make a fight there then we will look at the ratings and see what can be done to make a final elimination bout. Right now Gvzoyk is going to take a little vacation with his family. He fought in April and then we were going to fight on July 2, then three weeks before that date the fight got cancelled and it looked like we were going to fight on August 5 with Lomachenko, then it became August 19, so he's been training for a very long time and he's going to take a break for a week or two. He will be ready to fight again before the end of the year if needed, but early next year for sure."
GL: Lomachenko-Rigondeaux December 9 at Madison Square Garden?
EK: "I heard the possibility. Bob said December 9 is available and I even saw a release on your website last week and it's being reported by ESPN now, but it's not confirmed yet, but the possibility is very good for them to fight on December 9 at Madison Square Garden."
GL: Has Kovalev's next move taken shape yet?
EK: "We're looking to get him back into the ring in November, but I've been busy with Gvzodyk's fight, so I will be talking to Kathy (Duva) tomorrow."
GL: Closing thoughts?
EK: "Keep supporting boxing because boxing is getting better and the light heavyweight division is getting very hot right now. I think it's one of the best divisions in boxing. I loved Crawford's performance yesterday, he became an undisputed champion. As much as I would like to say Lomachenko is the number one pound for pound fighter in the world right now I have to give it up to Terence Crawford as the best pound for pound fighter in the world."
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