Cody Crowley can’t quite understand the confidence exuded by his opponent this weekend.

A showdown with welterweight contender Kudratillo Abdukakhorov has been in the works seemingly all year. Three tries later, the pair of unbeaten boxers will finally meet this Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

Uzbekistan’s Abdukakhorov (18-0, 10KOs) spoke with great confidence about running Crowley out of the ring this weekend. To that point, the Canadian southpaw wonders why it took so long for the two to meet in the ring.

“I got offered this fight back in April,” Crowley insisted during Thursday’s final pre-fight press conference ahead of the Showtime-televised event this weekend. “I was on vacation. I was in the mountains. I was just chilling. I accepted the fight on five weeks’ notice. I signed the contract, without even questioning it. The next thing you know, this guy backs out.

“A couple months later, same thing. Now we’re here.”

Crowley (19-0, 9KOs) fights for the first time since a ten-round win over Josh Torres last September behind closed doors at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. This past year has not at all been kind to the Ontario, Canada native, who now lives and trains in Las Vegas.

Following failed efforts to secure a fight with Abdukakhorov, Crowley aimed to move into an interim title fight with Venezuela’s Gabriel Maestre. The two were due to collide August 7 on Fox from The Armory in Minnesota, only for Crowley to test positive for Covid. He was replaced by Mykal Fox, who dropped a highly questionable twelve-round, split decision to Maestre in an event that led to the WBA radically changing its title policy.

Fighters such as Crowley were forced to readjust their career paths, which led him to revisit plans for a showdown with Abdukakhorov who remains the IBF mandatory contender. The Malaysia-based Uzbekistani has not only guaranteed a knockout on Saturday but vows to do the same to reigning IBF/WBC welterweight titlist Errol Spence (27-0, 21KOs) in his next fight.

That was all that Crowley needed to hear about his opponent’s focus for the task at hand.

“He’s 100% overlooking me, mentioning Errol Spence’s name,” insisted Crowley. “Come Saturday night, he’s gonna find himself in waters he can’t swim in.

“I’ve survived in environments where most people get destroyed. Saturday night, someone better throw this man some water wings.”  

Abdukakhorov-Crowley is part of a Showtime-televised live tripleheader headlined by the all-Filipino WBC bantamweight title fight between four-division and defending champ Nonito Donaire (41-6, 27KOs) and interim titlist Reymart Gaballo (24-0, 20KOs).

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox