Anthony Crolla made a successful first defence of his WBA lightweight title by knocking out Ismael Barroso in Manchester on Saturday.
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When Barroso put on that performance against Kevin (Mitchell), people thought I wouldn’t take the fight – which got my back up.
Crolla, who won the title in November 2015 by stopping Colombia’s Darleys Perez, says champions have an obligation to take on the top challengers. If you think about the journey he has had to go through, we know he’s tough enough, we know he isn’t going to let it go and I think we are going to see Crolla go from strength to strength. I wouldn’t get too worked up about it.
“I’ve shown I’m up there with any lightweight in the world”. It’s the support I get from this city and it’s something I’m humbled by.
“I was determined to come out on top and knew after about half-a-minute that I was on top and meant to remain that way”.
“I’ve certainly been through a lot but now I really do believe I have arrived”, he said. “I’ll fight anyone and I wasn’t about to duck my mandatory, no matter how risky”, he said.
And beating Barroso once again showed how far Crolla has improved since the days when he was beaten by domestic rivals like Derry Mathews and Gary Sykes.
This “drawing the steam” type tactics appeared to have their first positive sign of implementation in the third, as Barroso missed with some wild swings at times which allowed Crolla to land the more eye catching shots – one particularly nice right hand counter.
Crolla has to box smart, keep to his jab and avoid throwing combinations of more than three punches.
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Crolla: “There was no way I was going to swerve Barroso”. He needs to give him angles and never move back in straight lines. My whole team have pushed me and I’m in the best condition of my career.
