Anthony Crolla Beats Daud Yordan on Points in a WBA World Lightweight Title Eliminator

Manchester, MINA – Former WBA lightweight champion Anthony Crolla is set to fight for a world title again after he beat Indonesia’s Daud Yordan in a final eliminator, BBC Sport reported.

Crolla, 31, produced a hard-working performance at the Manchester Arena to gain a unanimous points decision win, by 116-112 margins on all three cards.

Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko, 30, is the current WBA ‘super’ champion.

Crolla was fighting on the undercard as Tony Bellew lost to undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.

“All credit to Daud Yordan, he pushed me all the way,” said Crolla on Sky Sports Box Office.

“People are going to have their own opinions but I’m not going to be disrespectful to Lomachenko and call him out. But if I’m his mandatory and could have that, then I would love to.”

Crolla, who suffered a fractured skull when he was hit by a concrete slab after he confronted two burglars in December 2014, won the WBA title with a fifth-round knockout of Colombia’s Darleys Perez in November 2015.

He successfully defended the title with a points win over Ismael Barroso, before he lost his world championship in September 2016 against Venezuela’s Jorge Linares, who also won a rematch on points the following March.

But wins for Crolla over Scotland’s Ricky Burns and Mexican Edson Ramirez set up the eliminator against the 31-year-old Indonesian.

Crolla, fighting in front of his home crowd, made a good start, having success with right uppercuts.

However, with his back against the ropes, he took some punishment in the sixth against the hard-working Yordan, who has held IBO world titles at featherweight and lightweight.

The Englishman regained his control on the fight late on, nicking some tight rounds and producing some excellent shots to Yordan’s body body.     (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)