Terence Crawford can accomplish two important missions by beating Ray Beltran on Saturday night in Omaha, Neb.
Other than retaining his WBO lightweight title, the undefeated Crawford can strengthen an already legitimate argument that he deserves recognition as “Fighter of the Year” for 2014.
Crawford?s highly impressive year began by traveling to Glasgow, Scotland, where he thoroughly outboxed hometown hero Ricky Burns to win the WBO?s 135-pound championship. The multi-dimensional boxer-puncher also was spectacular in his first defense June 28, when he dropped previously unbeaten Cuban Olympian Yuriorkis Gamboa (24-1, 17 KOs) four times on his way to a ninth-round technical knockout.
Beating Beltran also would keep Crawford (24-0, 17 KOs) ? who has developed a large, loyal fan base in Omaha ? in position to land a huge payday against Manny Pacquiao in 2015. Crawford, 27, expects to move up to 140 pounds after the Beltran bout, and Freddie Roach, Pacquiao?s trainer, wants Pacquiao to return to that weight for his next fight.
Crawford fully understands a hungry, rugged Beltran (29-6-1, 17 KOs) awaits him. Beltran, 33, settled for a widely disputed split draw with Burns six months before Crawford beat Burns (37-4-1, 11 KOs), and the Mexican veteran knows he cannot squander his second chance in this HBO “Boxing After Dark” main event.
“He?s going to be strong,” Crawford told the Omaha World Herald. “He?s going to come forward. He?s going to try to make it an ugly fight. He?s going to try to press the action. It?s going to be my job to put him in his place and fight my fight.”
PACQUIAO REPLAY: HBO will air a replay of Manny Pacquiao?s dominant unanimous decision over Chris Algieri at 10 p.m. Saturday.
The Philippines? Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) knocked down Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs), of Huntington, N.Y., six times during their 12-round fight for Pacquiao?s WBO welterweight title Saturday in Macau, China. Algieri entered their HBO Pay-Per-View main event as a huge underdog, despite the fact that he upset Russia?s Ruslan Provodnikov (23-3, 16 KOs) to win the WBO junior welterweight title in his previous fight.
HBO?s live doubleheader from Omaha is scheduled to begin immediately following the Pacquiao-Algieri replay. The first fight is a 12-rounder between Russia?s Evgeny Gradovich (19-0, 9 KOs), the IBF featherweight champion, and Puerto Rico?s Jayson Velez (22-0, 16 KOs).
BRITISH REMATCH: England?s Dereck Chisora will try to avenge a July 2011 loss to trash-talking, 6-foot-9 British heavyweight Tyson Fury on Saturday in London.
Fury (22-0, 16 KOs) defeated the talented yet inconsistent Chisora (20-4, 13 KOs) by unanimous decision in their first fight. Chisora claims, though, that he is much more focused and in better shape as they head toward a 12-round rematch for the British heavyweight title.
The Chisora-Fury fight will be streamed live at 3:15 p.m. on espn3.com.
MAICELO?S SHOT: North Bergen resident Jonathan Maicelo has signed a contract to challenge Colombia?s Darleys Perez (31-1, 20 KOs) for the WBA?s interim lightweight title Jan. 9 in Santa Ynez, Calif.
The Perez-Maicelo match will be broadcast by ESPN2 as part of a “Friday Night Fights” telecast from Chumash Casino Resort. Maicelo (21-1, 12 KOs), a star in his native Peru, moved himself into position to secure a title shot by beating Armenia?s Art Hovhannisyan (17-2-2, 9 KOs) by split decision in their 10-round fight July 11 in Shelton, Wash.
Maicelo, 31, trains at Garden State School of Boxing in Hackensack and is promoted by Wayne?s Gary Shaw.
