New York, NY (October 25, 2019) Tomorrow night, October 26, Alantez “SlyAza” Fox (25-1-1, 12 KOs), of Upper Marlboro, MD, returns to the ring in an eight-round middleweight clash against Bruno “El Zar” Romay (21-7, 18 KOs), of Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the “WBO Champions Tournament” held at Cancha Ruben Zayas Montanez, in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico.

Ranked #2 in the division by the WBO, the 27-year-old Fox weighed in at 164 pounds today while Romay tipped the scales at 162 pounds.

Promoted by DiBella Entertainment, Fox stated about the fight against Romay, “I am honored to be fighting on the WBO Champions Tournament card in Puerto Rico and look forward to putting on an extraordinary performance, taking another step toward the WBO middleweight title.”

Fox has won two fights in a row since suffering the only loss in his career, challenging world champion Demetrius Andrade on October 21, 2017. Most recently, Fox stopped Nick Brinson in the sixth round on May 18, in Washington, D.C.

“We’re happy that Alantez is competing on this special WBO Champions Tournament event in Puerto Rico,” said Lou DiBella, President of DiBella Entertainment. “Fox is one of the best fighters at middleweight and is feared by many because of his talent, height and reach. It’s great to keep him busy until he secures his next title shot.”

Stated Fox manager Mike Borao, “Alantez Fox is one of the most avoided boxers in his division, but I am confident that he will get his title opportunity early next year and make the best of it.”

Former world title challenger Felix Diaz and super bantamweight contender Yenifel Vicente will also compete on this event. Diaz (20-3, 10 KOs), of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, who has added two knockout victories to his record earlier this year, will face off against Mexican heavy-hitter Dario Ferman (18-6, 15 KOs) in a 10-round welterweight bout. Dominican Yenifel Vicente, a former WBO Latino titlist, is determined to rebound from his decision defeat to Tramaine Williams on July 27, contesting for the WBO NABO 122-pound title. Vicente (35-4-2, 27 KOs), who had scored 10 consecutive knockouts prior to the Williams bout, will be looking to start a new knockout streak against Mexican Victor Ruiz (23-10, 16 KOs) in a 10-round bout.

LOUISVILLE, KY (April 4, 2018) Perennial welterweight contender FRANCISCO SANTANA, (26-6-1, 12 KO’s), of Santa Barbara, CA has stepped up to face former world title challenger FELIX DIAZ, (19-2-0, 9 KO’s), in the first round of ‘The Jose Sulaiman World Invitational Tournament’ set for Friday, April 27, 2018 at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, KY.

Representing Mexico in the tournament, Santana replaces the previously announced first round opponent for Diaz, DERRIECK CUEVAS,who bowed out due to the death of his grandmother.

Presented by Evander Holyfield’s The Real Deal Boxing, in association with the World Boxing Council and Louisville’s Top Knotch, tickets starting at $35 are now on sale and be purchased through the KFC Yum! Center box office, Ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000. The KFC Yum! Center is located at 1 Arena Plaza, Louisville, KY 40202. Doors will open on the night of the event at 6:00 p.m. with the first bell at 7:00 p.m.

“I know I’m the dark horse in the race so I guess it makes sense the tournament is taking place in the home of the Kentucky Derby!”, laughs Santana, the ultra-friendly, married father of one, who also works as a full-time seaman on a naval base.

“In all seriousness though, I’ve come up the hard way. I’ve caught a lot of bad breaks in the sport. After my last fight when I was robbed on the cards again, I thought maybe it was time to hang it up, but I listened to my team and my family that an opportunity would come along as long I stayed focused and kept training. Now it has with this tournament and I intend to make the most of it. My dream has always been to be the WBC Welterweight Champion of the world and this is the next step towards that goal.”

As for landing the top seed Felix Diaz on short notice, Santana is not phased at all.

“It doesn’t matter who it is. There are no easy fights or fighters in this tournament. In terms of the quality of match ups, hardcore boxing fans know this is the top to bottom card of the year so far. The best fighting the best, that’s what The Real Deal Boxing is all about it and that’s what I’m about. I know I’m the tournament underdog but that only fuels my fire. I am a man on mission. I am going to make a statement on April 27th. Train. Fight. Win.”

“It’s an unfortunate situation with Derrieck Cuevas having to drop out but the recent death of his grandmother had greatly impacted his ability to train,” said Holyfield. “However, we’re very excited to have Francisco Santana step in to face Felix Diaz. Francisco has fought two current world champions and with the additional wealth of experience he has, we expect a very competitive first round fight.”

Santana has faced numerous world class fighters including Sadam Ali, Jermell Charlo, Julian Williams, Jose Benavidez, Eddie Gomez, Freddy Hernandez and Karim Mayfield. He also received the most ‘alternate’ fan votes in the balloting prior to the announcement of the tournament draw.

The updated schedule of first round fights for the tournament representing eight countries are;

#1 ranked FELIX DIAZ, (19-2-0, 9 KO’s) of Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic will clash with #8 ranked FRANCISCO SANTANA, (26-6-1, 12 KO’s), of Santa Barbara, CA, representing Mexico.

#2 ranked CHRIS VAN HEERDEN, (25-2-1, 12 KO’s) of Johannesburg, South Africa, faces #7 ranked TIMO SCHWARZKOPF, (18-1-0, 10 KO’s) of Stuttgart, Germany.

#3 ranked FREDRICK LAWSON, (26-1-0, 21 KO’s), of Accra, Ghana, battles #6 ranked BAISHANBO NASIYWULA,(13-1-1, 6 KO’s), of Urumqi, China.

#4 ranked RADZHAB BUTAEV, (8-0-0, 6 KO’s) of Russia faces #5 ranked BRAD SOLOMON,(27-1-0, 9 KO’s), of Douglasville, Georgia.

The additional alternate chosen by the fan voting is PADDY GALLAGHER, (13-3-0, 8 KO’s) of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Included among the unique judging aspects set forth for the tournament;

–Development and implementation of a standardized scoring process that clearly defines how the judges should score each bout.

–Additional judges to minimize margin of error. A fourth judge will be placed at ringside and a fifth judge will be placed in front of a TV monitor with no audio commentary. All five judges’ scorecards will be used if the fight goes the distance.

–Employment of an Open Scoring concept to allow fighters the knowledge if they are winning or losing a fight.

–Assignment of Neutral and Experienced Judges throughout the tournament.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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Instagram: @TheRealDealBoxing, @WBCBoxing, @KFCYumCenter, EvanderRDHolyfield

Websites: www.TheRealDealBoxing.com, www.WBCBoxing.com, www.KFCYumCenter.com

By Bart Barry-

Saturday at Madison Square Garden, Nebraska junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford beat Dominican Felix Diaz by corner stoppage after 10 rounds in a fight enabled by HBO. If it wasn’t dreary neither was it masterful, and if shifting the onus of entertainment from punchers to writers was Crawford’s strategy he’ll find it an open failure in what follows: As Crawford was insufficiently inspired to entertain Saturday neither was his performance sufficiently inspirational to engender any imaginative explanations.

Terence Crawford is bored with boxing. And boredom leads to something like contempt, and I can relate because I’m bored with Terence Crawford and it’s leading me to watch Crawford and his fights with increasing contempt.

Why Saturday’s match had to be stopped is very hard to say; an Olympic gold medalist signs for a championship chance and without being dropped or even buckled needs his corner to rescue him before the championship rounds even commence, in Madison Square Garden? We might as well return to open scoring if we’re going to use this mercy rule, and stop broadcasting such tripe.

A number of times Saturday, in a championship fight, mind you, the combatants had to be instructed by referee Steve Willis to mill, as each scowled his opponent’s way and drew some sort of line with his glove and bade his opponent cross it. Neither man cared to make combat badly enough to forgo exact terms, and this led Crawford to show Diaz increasing contempt, something, once more, Crawford partisans outside Nebraska now begin to share.

Watching the contest with volume muted, as I do whenever possible, I set myself in the seat of an imaginary viewer who flipped to HBO, or was already there for some other reason, because somewhere he’d heard or read about this Crawford dude, son of Omaha’s meanest streets (boxing alone could find their intersection), and saw tentative tapping early and good footwork and something like a bitter countenance and quite a lot of confidence that did not manifest as action. Crawford engaged when threatened and did things technically and well enough, but there was no excitement, and these things, over and again, cannot be argued for; nobody had to talk himself into finding Crawford’s signature match against Yuriorkis Gamboa thrilling.

Saturday’s attendance number in Manhattan appears unavailable, or at least not included in any official reports, not unlike the way Crawford’s pay-per-view number against Viktor Postol went untallied for a good long time: no announcement is indeed an announcement.

Crawford remains in a sticky place with his promoter, Bob Arum – who was ornery as hell Saturday after his champion’s supposedly impressive knockout victory – not wishing to bid goodbye his one reliable revenue stream, Manny Pacquiao, till no hope remains of a last gigantic payday (not to be found in Australia or Nebraska), and Crawford entertaining evidently no pressing desire to move to welterweight till a unification is achieved, as if that were still meaningful to anyone. Part-time Pacquiao is still good enough to buzz Crawford if he catches him at 147 pounds, and there’s a good chance their match might be a good one – while Pacquiao’s days of entertaining fights ended with Juan Manuel Marquez’s right fist years ago, he’s fought better competition since the Shoulder Match with Money May than Crawford has – good enough even to resuscitate interest in Crawford.

Would anyone who watched Saturday’s match believe Crawford made the fight of the year in 2014, when he . . .

And like that, writing about Crawford, once more, has gotten dull (notice how short on words ringside accounts were for a championship match that lasted 30 minutes). Enough then.

Let’s address Gary Russell’s dominating win over hardhitting . . . just kidding. Let’s not.

That leaves this week’s noteworthy match, Englishman Kell Brook (1-1 in career defining fights) against American Olympian Errol Spence who might be genuinely special and is taking the sort of risk a genuinely special fighter takes (not unlike Crawford’s 2014 trip to Scotland to beat Ricky Burns) in a fight so good, so potentially exciting, experts can’t help but interpret it as a sign of PBC’s financial woes, even if this will be the second such welterweight fight PBC has made in the first half of 2017.

Brook has not punched professionally since his illadvised September vacation in the middleweight division, and some combination of Brook’s necessary weightloss and reconstructive facial surgery does raise some questions about his fitness for the Spence fight. Brook will enjoy British scoring, though, and a well-lubricated Yorkshire crowd when the bell rings on this match, and his experience is such Spence should be unable to unscrew him quickly as he’s done to most other men set across from him.

I was ringside for three of Spence’s first 12 prizefights and entirely skeptical of anyone off that 2012 U.S. Olympic team (by medal count, the worst in American history), but Spence appeared kinda special. He moved better and hit with more commitment than the rest of a team that, in yet another bit of eye-for-talent foreshadowing, Al Haymon signed and shepherded into the professional ranks.

What’s much more important than the likelihood of Brook-Spence being an excellent match is that it will open without a winner already established in the mind of every aficionado, unlike last weekend’s curdled fare. That’s a special occasion. And if the winner fights Keith Thurman, in a true welterweight unification match in the fall, PBC may well have turned a corner.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

Follow all the action as Terence Crawford defends the WBC / WBO Super Lightweight world titles against former Olympic Gold Medal winner Felix Diaz from New York’s Madison Square Garden.  The action starts at 10:15 PM ET  with a Lightweight elimination bout between Ray Beltran and Jonathan Maicelo.

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Round 1: Body shot from Crawford..Right hook from Diaz..Left from Crawford..

Round 2 Right hook from Crawford..Counter right..uppercut..Big right hook from Diaz..

Round 3 Straight left from Diaz..Hard 1-2 from Crawford…Right hook..Left to body..uppercut..

Round 4 Right hook from Diaz..Straight left from Crawford…Crawford lands an uppercut..Straight left from Diaz..

Round 5 Good uppercut from Crawford..Combination..Straight left..Jab from Diaz..Jab from Crawford,,

Round 6 Jab from Crawford..Big right from Crawford..Hard uppercut.

Round 7 Crawford lands a hard right but Diaz lands a hard right hook..Hard combo from Crawford..2 good shots from Diaz…Crawford lands a hard right..Big right from Diaz..They are smiling at each other.

Round 8 3 punch combination from Crawford..2 right hooks..2 shots drive Diaz back…Jab..2 hard lefts..Big right hook at end of round

Round 9 Jab from Crawford..Good counter uppercut..left in corner..Right hook inside

Round 10 Doctors looking hard in the corner at Diaz right eye….Jab from Crawford..Hard combination…Crawford clowning Diaz..Left around the guard..2 big counter uppercuts and a right hook..THE FIGHT IS STOPPED IN THE CORNER–CRAWFORD WINS VIA TKO AFTER ROUND 10 

Round 1 Body work from Maicelo and straight right..jab..RIGHT TO BODY AND DOWN GOES BELTRAN…Maicelo cut on his forehead…(Headbutt)..Beltran cut over the left eye..Left from Beltran..

Round 2 Right from Maicelo…2 lefts and a right back Beltran on the ropes..HUGE LEFT AND DOES MAICELO…HE IS COMPLETELY KNOCKED OUT,,,THE STRETCHER IS COMING IN 

NEW YORK CITY -Inside the main arena at Madison Square Garden, Terence “Bud” Crawford proved why he’s king of the lightweight mountain.  For ten consecutive rounds, Omaha’s favorite son delivered a thorough beating to former Olympic Gold Medalist, Felix Diaz.  At the end of the tenth, Diaz’s trainer Joel Diaz, intervened and stopped the contest, resulting in a TKO victory for Crawford.

Beltran One-Punch Kayos Maicelo, Stuns Garden Crowd

Brick City Bomber: Stevenson Scores First Round KO

In his second professional fight, former Olympic Silver Medalist Shakur Stevenson scored a first round TKO victory over fellow featherweight, Carlos Suarez of Argentina.  Newark’s Stevenson found his range immediately, connecting with short right hooks and straight lefts that clearly demonstrated his power.

In the third stanza of the opening round, Stevenson unleashed a barrage of punches that concluded with a left hook to the chin that sent Suarez tumbling forward until his stomach lay flat on the mat.  While the ten count was being administered by referee Arthur Mercante Jr., Suarez attempted to get to his knees, but stumbled backwards.  At that time, the 2:35 mark of the first round, Mercante decided to call a stop to the contest.

“I hit him with a straight left to the chin. That’s my money punch,” Stevenson said after the fight.   “I only wish this fight could have gone longer for my fans here.”

The perfect start to Stevenson’s pro career continues as he improves to 2-0, 2KO. Suarez’s resume now reads 6-4-2, 1 KO

Tong Hui Cruises Past Calzada

Chinese super welterweight Li Tong Hui easily outpointed veteran Daniel Calzada to earn a unanimous decision victory.

Round after round Tong Hui peppered Calzada with lefts and rights born from all angles, hardly taking any punches in return.  To his credit, Calzada, a fighter with more than 160 professional rounds in his rearview, took Hui’s punches well and never stopped trying to land something significant.

In the end, it was all Tong Hui, though.  All three judges scored the fight a shutout for the man from China, 60-54.

Tong Hui improves his record to 9-1, 6KO, while Calzada’s record now reads 14-17-3, 2KO

Lopez Knocks Rivas Out Cold

In a lightweight matchup slated for six rounds, Brooklyn-born Honduran Olympian, Teofimo Lopez, scored a scary one-punch KO victory against Ronald Rivas.  The definitive punch came courtesy of a counter left hook that exploded on Rivas chin.  The punch immediately collapsed shut down Rivas system, and collapsed him to the canvas.  Clearly out cold upon impact, referee Arthur Mercante Jr. wasted no time in calling a halt to the contest.  The official time of the stoppage came at 2:21 of the second round.

Lopez keeps both his undefeated and knockout streak intact and now boasts a professional record of 5-0, 5KOs.  Rivas drops below the .500 mark to 5-6-2, 3KO.

Ponomarev Remains Unbeaten With UD Victory

In an eight round battle between two veteran super welterweights, Abel Sanchez-trained and regular Triple G sparring partner, Konstantin Ponomarev, scored a hard-earned unanimous decision victory over Ed Paredes.

Ponomarev started slow and initially kept his distance, but as the fight progressed began to wear down and impose his will on Paredes.

In the sixth round, Ponomarev seemed to stun Paredes with a straight right and kept the pressure on, stalking his injured opponent and connecting with more clean shots.  Just when it felt like Ponomarev was about to pump up the pressure even more, Paredes landed a clean left counter-hook, stopping the Russian in his tracks and thwarting his attack.

In the eighth and final round, Paredes landed his most successful shots of the match, courtesy of two straight rights.  Before the final bell sounded, Ponomarov answered those punches with vicious rights of his own, one of which momentarily wobbled Paredes.

At the end of eight, all three judges scored the bout 78-72 in favor of the Russian.

In fairness to Paredes, the wide scorecards don’t accurately reflect the closeness in which some rounds were fought.  15rounds.com scored the bout 79-73, Ponomarov, but noted four close rounds, three of which were given to Ponomarov.

With the win, the Ponomarev runs his already impressive record up to 32-0, 13KO, while Parades drops 37-7-1, 24KO.

Uzbekistan’s Olympic Hero Stays Perfect

Former Rio Olympic Gold Medalist, Fazliddin Gaibnazarov, battered Massachusett’s Agustine Mauras around the ring, three minutes at a time, for eight rounds.  In front of about fifty or so fellow Uzbekistanis cheering on their fighter, the super lightweight showcased his superior skills, rhythmically landing one punch at a time before slipping away from anything Mauras would attempt to land.

It was a near flawless performance for the southpaw as he fought nearly every minute of every round on his terms.  Perhaps the only knock against him would be that he seemed to lack a killer instinct.  Gaibnazarov was content to hit and move — which works, no question — but rarely did the ex-Olympian piece together effective combinations, save for two in the opening moments of the final round.

At the end of eight rounds, all three judges scored the bout a shutout in favor of Gaibnazarov, 80-72.

Gaibnazarov’s professional record now reads 2-0, 2KO, while the hard-nosed Maraus’ record falls to 6-3-3, 3KO.

Lebron Dominates Estrada – Scores A Second Round TKO Stoppage

In a contest slated for four rounds, Puerto Rican super featherweight Henry Lebron scored an impressive TKO victory over New Mexico’s Johnny Estrada.  After dominating the first five minutes of the match, Lebron landed a perfectly thrown left that knocked Estrada out on his feet.  Lebron instinctively followed up and connected with a straight right that would have sent Estrada to the mat if not for referee Arthur Mercante Jr.’s intervention to keep the flailing fighter upright. The fight was stopped at the :52 mark of the second round.

Lebron stays perfect with the win, moving to 2-0, 2KO, while Estrada drops to 0-2.

Nelson Makes Quick Work Of Rubio 

In a light heavyweight contest slated for six rounds, the night’s opening bout saw Terence Crawford stablemate Steven Nelson make quick work of his Mexican counterpart, Gilberto Rubio.  In just under four minutes, Nelson sent Rubio to the canvas three time en route to a second round TKO victory.

The first knockdown came courtesy of a left-hook, right-uppercut combo as the round neared conclusion.  In the second round, Nelson dug two meaty left hooks to Rubio’s liver, forcing him to a knee each time — the second of which resulted in referee Shawn Clark calling a halt to the contest at the :36 mark of the second round.

Nelson continues his ascent in the light heavyweight division and improves his record to 7-0, 6KOs. The Mexican, Rubio, sees his record drop to 7-6, 5 KOs.

NEW YORK (May 18, 2017) — Undefeated World Junior Welterweight Champion and top pound for pound fighter TERENCE “Bud” CRAWFORD (30-0, 21 KOs), of Omaha, Neb., will make his 2017 debut, This Saturday! May 20, at the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden. This will also be his debut headlining in the big room — a testament both to his talent and his growing popularity. Crawford will be defending his unified World Boxing Organization (WBO) / World Boxing Council (WBC) / Ring magazine titles against former Olympic gold medalist and top-rated contender FÉLIX DÍAZ (19-1, 9 KOs), of Brooklyn by way of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in a marquee all-action fight. It will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing®, beginning at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT.

Crawford, Díaz, the Pride of Newark and 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist SHAKUR STEVENSON, world-rated lightweight contenders RAY “Sugar” BELTRAN and JONATHAN “The Last Inca” MAICELO hosted a Final Press Conference at Madison Square Garden. Here is what they had to say:

TERENCE CRAWFORD
“I‘m excited to be fighting in The Garden’s main arena and following in the steps of great fighters – legends. I am proud to continue the tradition. I don’t feel any pressure fighting at The Garden. The ring, no matter where it is, always feels like home to me. I just have to keep winning. If I keep winning then the opportunities for even bigger fights will present themselves. But this is a really big fight to me. Diaz is a worthy challenger and you can’t bring just any fight to The Garden. I didn’t get this far without winning. I ‘m ready for any opportunities at 140 or 147 pounds. I want to put a show on for everyone on Saturday night. I WILL make a statement.”

FÉLIX DÍAZ
“I‘m up for this challenge. I really believe this will be a war on Saturday night. I’m going to have massive support from my fellow Dominicans. I have a great chance of winning this fight. I see a lot of weaknesses in his game that I know I can take advantage of. He is one of the best, but I have fought at welterweights and he hasn’t. I believe I have the power to hurt him.”

RAY BELTRAN
“This fight is so important to me. It’s for a shot at world title and for my Green Card. If I win this fight, my next stop is Trump Tower where I can wave my Green Card at the building for everyone in there to see it. I’ve had so many struggles to get here today. My family’s future depends on my winning the fight. Everything is riding on this.”

JONATHAN MAICELO
“The Garden will feel like Peru to me on Saturday night. I have a lot of Peruvian fans coming to the fight to root for me. With a world title shot at stock I’m going to give it everything I’ve got on Saturday night.”

SHAKUR STEVENSON
“I’m excited and ready to put on a show. I want to prove to everyone that I’m the best prospect to come out of the 2016 Olympics. The Olympics was a great experience because I was seen by a lot of people. It was great being in training camp with Terence [Crawford]. I learned a lot from sparring with him. Every punch he threw, even the narrow misses were like, ‘WOW!’ It’s been a long time since I have fought this close to home. Newark will be in The Garden in a big way on Saturday”

********************************

The HBO telecast will open with Beltran (32-7-1, 20 KOs), of Phoenix, AZ by way of Los Mochis, Mexico, and Maicelo (25-2, 12 KOs), of North Bergen, New Jersey by way of Callao, Peru, going mano a mano in a high-stakes battle of world-rated lightweight contenders. Sanctioned by the International Boxing Federation (IBF) as a world lightweight title elimination bout, the winner of the 12-round rumble will also lay claim to the vacant World Boxing Association (WBA) International and the NABF and NABO lightweight titles, currently held by Beltran. The world championship event will also feature the Pride of Newark and 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist SHAKUR STEVENSON (1-0) on the non-televised undercard. All the non-HBO televised undercard bouts will be streamed live exclusively via www.toprank.tv.

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with DiBella Entertainment, Tecate and Madison Square Garden, remaining tickets to the Crawford vs. Díaz world championship event are priced at $250, $150, $100, $75, $50 and $35. They can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008), and online at www.ticketmaster.com and www.thegarden.com.

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For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo Facebook.com/dibellaentertainment, https://www.facebook.com/felixmanuel.diazguzman, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014790258442 or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, www.twitter.com/LouDiBella, www.twitter.com/felixmldiaz or twitter.com/hboboxing. Use the Hashtag #CrawfordDiaz to join the conversation on Twitter.

It will be a hot night of world-class boxing action in the Big Apple when WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: TERENCE CRAWFORD VS. FELIX DIAZ AND RAYMUNDO BELTRAN VS JONATHAN MAICELO is seen SATURDAY, May 20 at 10:15 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT) from Madison Square Garden in New York, exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports broadcasting team will call the action, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.

The fight will also be available on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and affiliate portals.

The main event features the talented rising superstar from Omaha, NE, Terence Crawford (30-0, 21 KOs) as he returns to Broadway to take on Felix Diaz (19-1, 9 KOs), from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and now living in New York City, in a scheduled 12-round junior welterweight title contest. 29-year-old Crawford has become a force in the junior welterweight division and a standout star in the sport. Known for his knockout power and ring dominance, the 2014 BWAA Fighter of the Year is coming off a knockout title defense victory over John Molina, Jr. and is determined to dominate the 140-pound division. Diaz, a crafty 33-year-old southpaw, with only one blemish on his record, is a 2008 Olympic gold medalist seeking to pull off an upset by demonstrating that his formidable and seasoned ring skill set can outfox the reigning undefeated champion.

Crawford’s New York debut was a year ago when he handled Hank Lundy in the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Now, Crawford gets to showcase his dazzling skills in the big room at the Mecca of Boxing.

The evening’s opening bout features a lightweight match and 12-round title eliminator between Raymundo Beltran (32-7-1, 20 KOs) from Los Mochis, Mexico, now living in Phoenix, AZ going against Jonathan Maicelo (25-2, 12 KOs) from North Bergen, NJ originally from Callao, Peru. Beltran, 35, is looking to continue his climb in the division after his previous loss to Terence Crawford in November of 2014. He has won his last three bouts, while Maicelo, 33, is in on a four-bout winning streak. Beltran was profiled last December on the HBO State of Play series from FILM 45 (“Fighting Chance”) and on May 9 it was recognized with the Sports Emmy® Award for Outstanding Short Documentary.

Follow HBO boxing news at hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/hboboxing and on Twitter at twitter.com/hboboxing.

All HBO boxing events are presented in HDTV. HBO viewers must have access to the HBO HDTV channel to watch HBO programming in high definition.

The executive producer of WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is Rick Bernstein; producer, Dave Harmon; director, Johnathan Evans.

® WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.

By Jimmy Tobin-

This Saturday, undefeated American, Terence Crawford, meets Dominican, Felix Diaz, in a fight that is likely to only confirm junior welterweight supremacy. There should be an impassioned crowd on hand in Madison Square Garden that night too, at least in the rows that fit in the frame of a television screen, close enough to the production tables to mask the empty silence sprawling toward the exits.

The question of whether Diaz is a worthy challenger feels almost as out of place as the question of whether he is a deserving one. His lone loss, a disputed majority decision to Lamont Peterson, is respectable enough; his best win, a decision over Sammy Vasquez, was utterly complete. Diaz seems very much to fit into the modern contender mold: there is nothing especially remarkable about the southpaw, but he is capable. And should that assessment prove insufficient to glorify Crawford’s unmaking of him, rest assured the talking heads ringside will reference Diaz’ Olympic gold medal to buttress his professional credentials. Crawford however, knows no threat at 140 pounds, and efforts to fashion those members of the herd he culls into anything but his next opponent feel, if not insincere, then tedious, the product of too much abstraction.

Diaz may pocket a round or two if Crawford lets him, his confidence bolstered by the pyrrhic victories that begin him down the path to his doom. Crawford will measure, switch southpaw both frivolously and with purpose, decide at some point it is time to establish his dominance, and then thoroughly, maliciously, strip Diaz of his illusions. Quietly or otherwise, on his feet or his back, Diaz will go the way of his thirty predecessors; a fact that reflects matchmaking, yes, but also Crawford’s peerlessness. Few—if any—are the Crawford fights where the victor and not the manner of victory is in question.

It should surprise no one then, that Top Rank boss, Bob Arum, has been speaking of his obligation to pit the past against the future, and finally set Manny Pacquiao across the ring from Crawford. And for those who see impatience in the use of “finally” here, ask yourself this: after Crawford defeated Viktor Postol, was there any real challenge to his throne? There will always be opponents—Arum can spit shine a John Molina or Felix Diaz to delay in perpetuity the obvious—but since beating Postol last July there has been only one opponent for Crawford. Arum knows this, which explains his current enthusiasm: dangling a future opponent to distract from the present one is a tactic he has long employed. The bait is set, now await the switch.

There is a catch, of course, which can only mean further delays. Before making Pacquiao-Crawford, Arum would first like to see Crawford unify the division against Namibia’s, Julius Indongo. (And what does it say of Crawford’s next two fights that Arum is making plans beyond them?). Indongo may be a fine fighter, but a fight with Crawford would present aficionados the same uninspiring challenge: discerning how, not whether, Crawford will win (and if that is selling Indongo short, let him prove it first against someone better than Ricky Burns). The unification route makes some sense for Arum in that multiple titles means multiple mandatory defenses. When Crawford unifies he could be hogtied by mandatory defenses, none of which would accomplish more than further establishing the obvious, but each would be financed by HBO (which has already endorsed one fighter’s fetish for titles). For Arum, that is probably justification enough.

And then there is Pacquiao, who might be the underdog against Crawford but who retains enough athleticism and guile to flummox every welterweight on the planet. He is certainly too good for Jeff Horn, who owes his July fight with Pacquiao to his being Australian and little else. If Arum can successfully package Pacquiao elsewhere (and he recently stated he expects the 55,000 seat Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane to sell out), he will do so for as long as he can. He is acting like the retiree who burns through what he could have left to his heirs, living indulgently at the expense of a future he could reasonably be expected to preserve.

That bodes poorly for the future—because Pacquiao can ratify Crawford in a way titles cannot—but also for the present in that Pacquiao is being squandered. Perhaps asking him to immolate himself—even in the name of exposing recency bias—after a career that leaves so few questions is being unfair to a fighter who has earned a relatively tranquil twilight to his career. But such considerations must be made in the context of the price tag attached to his non-events and the obvious ability he retains. Mind you, talk of Pacquiao being squandered might be overly generous to a 38-year-old with 67 professional fights, one who could run aground against a fighter like Kell Brook or Errol Spence or Terence Crawford. But his undoing—so long as it is violent—remains a spectacle to behold, and Pacquiao in something other than a foregone conclusion is an event that need not be transported to Australia. That explains part of the appeal of a Crawford fight: if Crawford is fighter enough to defeat Pacquiao, he will set upon the aged icon with a healthy disdain, ensuring more than a twelve round transaction.

The hope then, is that this time Arum is being genuine and that he indeed intends to make the best fight he can. Crawford has had recent legal troubles and his relationship with the media is fragile at best. He could certainly use the right kind of attention, the right kind of opponent, because he too is being squandered. And in a year that is delivering a number of quality fights, perhaps a little forgotten too.

By Bart Barry-

Saturday the world’s best junior welterweight, Nebraska’s Terence Crawford, will fight on HBO at Madison Square Garden against a 33-year-old Dominican named Felix Diaz. Saturday the world’s second best featherweight, Maryland’s Gary Russell Jr., will fight on Showtime against a Colombian named Oscar Escandon. These are important fights, one supposes, featuring very good fighters, one of whom may even prove great.

And yet Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is more fun to write about than both of them, and maybe that’s the point of his popularity, a magnetism everyone wishes attribute to Canelo in his assignment of credit for what appears a post-Mayweather-Pacquiao pay-per-view record, but Canelo just sold more with Chavez than he vended in a combination of Amir Khan and Liam Smith, which indicates his opponent’s ethnicity and charisma make more of a difference than his opponent’s resume and Gennady “160,000 buys” Golovkin may not actually make any more dollars for Canelo come September than he makes sense.

Canelo was marketed better than this weekend’s main event fighters and marketed to a better demographic, too, and luck is luck, but as a prizefighter he appears to’ve been developed somewhere between the two men, with Crawford obviously in the front and Russell behind. Russell’s handlers knew from the moment they signed him he was the future of boxing, which, it turns out, is a problem when those handlers don’t know what they’re looking at and have much less an idea how to develop it. Crawford’s promoter, meanwhile, treated Crawford’s talent with the same skepticism Top Rank and its ace matchmakers treat every prospect they sign:

Can he sell tickets in his hometown? However fast his hands or feet, does he hit hard enough to keep world-class competitors off him? How pesky are his parents and manager? Is his childhood trainer a benefactor or beneficiary? How are his whiskers in a shootout? And most importantly, how does he comport himself afterwards – or in Bob Arum’s actual words, “Does he dissipate between fights?”

Whatever criteria PBC uses it is not that criteria and probably comes closer to a criterion like: How many people say he reminds them of Floyd Mayweather, or at least Sugar Ray Leonard?

Russell and Crawford are about the same age and have about the same number of fights, and yet Crawford is multiples more accomplished than Russell, and it wasn’t that way six years ago when HBO, as Al Haymon’s pre-PBC affiliate, began to shine Russell highlights and matches at its viewers. The details of what happened to Russell after that aren’t important, though surely there were contract issues and a dearth of opponents for a man of such otherworldly handspeed, the usual “nobody will fight him” gambit used by cheap or incompetent managers and promoters everywhere. Then Russell met Vasyl Lomachenko three years ago and got conclusively outclassed, which was not shameful but an indictment of all things said about him before that match.

Too, it was an indictment of what development happened to Russell before his match with Lomachenko: Russell’s two preceding opponents shared 20 losses in their 60-fight collective. It was the usual Haymon-managed concern with building an attraction rather than a fighter, and it went the way things with Haymon-managed prospects usually do when a return-on-investment alarm rings somewhere and their competition gets improved by a few hundred percent overnight. His unblemished record now blemished, a mortal sin in the Haymon stable, Russell went back to whupping guys who, for one reason or another, hadn’t much chance against him. One suspects the same ideal’ll be in play Saturday against Escandon; PBC’d not risk another Russell loss on Showtime when CBS and HBO are willing to pay substantially more to broadcast PBC superstars being beaten.

Terence Crawford, while more accomplished than Russell, now risks being considered a box office dud outside Nebraska if he doesn’t sell a respectable number of tickets at Madison Square Garden against Felix Diaz the same way he didn’t sell a respectable number of pay-per-views against Viktor Postol in July. According to Madison Square Garden’s website Diaz (19-1, 9 KOs) is a “hard hitting southpaw” with an Olympic gold medal, but when one sees a gold medal round the neck of a fighter with less than a 50-percent knockout ratio as a pro, well . . .

Know what? This is dull. Watch the fights or don’t, but nothing historic will happen Saturday, so let’s go back to Chavez Jr.

A video leaked online last week that besmirched Chavez’s spotless character by depicting the fallen champ enjoying his loss a bit too much. Someone, it seems, believed a wedge might be driven between Chavez and his fans. But no. Chavez is a circus act no one can stop from plying his craft to a ripe older age. He doesn’t appeal to slackers and potheads the way his detractors insist he must. Rather he appeals to anyone who’s ever been told to do something he didn’t want to do and then done it well enough to be mistaken for someone capable of doing it before ecstatically sabotaging the whole damn thing in a flurry of shrugs. Chavez neither called in sick nor told his boss to go pound sand; Chavez continued showing up at a job for which he was illsuited, played videogames on the clock, took extended breaks and giggled his way through quarterly evaluations; Chavez didn’t shout “I quit” but sat in his cube wondering “When are they going to fire me?”

If there are Mexicans actually enraged by Chavez, I’ve not found them. Mostly my interviews have gone like this.

Bart: “Did you see the Chavez fight?”
Mexican aficionado: (Laughing) “Yes.”
Bart: (Laughing harder)
Mexican Aficionado: (Laughing harder still)
Bart: “Think he’ll retire?”
Mexican aficionado: “No.”
Bart: (Laughing)
Mexican aficionado: (Laughing harder)

Remember this when the hyperbole reaches a boil on HBO and Showtime this weekend: To date Chavez has sold about 1.5 million more pay-per-views than Crawford and Russell combined. It is kind of funny.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

NEW YORK (May 12, 2017) — Undefeated World Junior Welterweight Champion and top pound for pound fighter TERENCE “Bud” CRAWFORD (30-0, 21 KOs), of Omaha, Neb., will make his 2017 debut, Next Saturday! May 20, at the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden. This will also be his debut headlining in the big room — a testament both to his talent and his growing popularity. Crawford will be defending his unified World Boxing Organization (WBO) / World Boxing Council (WBC) / Ring magazine titles against former Olympic gold medalist and top-rated contender FÉLIX DÍAZ (19-1, 9 KOs), of Brooklyn by way of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in a marquee all-action fight. It will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT.

Crawford and Díaz, along with their respective promoters, Bob Arum and Lou DiBella, made themselves available in training camp on Thursday for a pre-fight week Q&A Session. Here is the transcript.

TERENCE CRAWFORD: I am very excited for this fight and looking forward to fighting in the big arena where all of the greats have fought. I am looking to put on a great show next week.

Most boxers do not call you out. Diaz has been calling you out for the last couple of fights. How do you feel about that? Do you get annoyed?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: When you are at the top of the division, everyone wants to fight the guy at the top, especially when they can get their name out there to boost their ratings. I didn’t take it as nothing really.

So it didn’t take much to get the fight done?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: Yes, of course, I never ran away from any challenge. He’s got the skills, he’s a good fighter, he is an Olympic Gold Medalist and this is the fight that a lot of people were calling for, and we are here now.

Diaz lost a razor close decision to Peterson that a lot of people thought he won. Did you see the fight and what did you think?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: It was a real close fight. Lamont was the favorite in that fight and he did what he had to do to get the job done, and this fight could be different.

Is Diaz the type of opponent that can bring out the best in you? Unlike Molina and Postol, do you think Diaz can give you a better challenge?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: We shall see. A lot of people look a the fights and ask who will bring out the best in Terence Crawford, who is going to bring out this in Terence Crawford – we want to see Terence Crawford in these types of fights. But again, I make my adjustments and it’s just that. So we are going to have to see how the fight is going to go or what is going to happen. I just fight the fight.

Bob, what are your thoughts about going up against Diaz, and maybe he is the guy that can bring out the best in Terence?

BOB ARUM: Felix Diaz in an Olympic Gold Medalist and that means something. A Gold Medalist has a lot of confidence and a lot of credentials and ability. I am delighted that he stepped up to the plate. His promoter Lou DiBella was very helpful in making the fight and very cooperative. It is going to be a terrific fight for the fans and Terence only wants to fight the best. Whoever is the best that steps up is the one Terence is going to fight. Terence has never ducked anybody. The whole time he has been with Top Rank he has never ducked an opponent. It’s not a question of matching him correctly. It’s not a question of being cautious. Terence will fight anybody who steps up to the plate.

Are you looking forward to the day where you get in a big like, a la Chavez-Taylor or Hagler-Hearns where you have to dig deep? Would you like that kind of fight?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: That’s what training is for. That’s what you train hard for. That’s what you prepare for because again, you never know what is going to happen in the ring. You have to prepare yourself for whatever your opponent might bring. I am prepared to go to hell and back to get the win. I train to prepare for whatever.

Even though Diaz is a Gold Medalist – there have been many Gold Medalists before him that didn’t make it as a pro such as Gamboa – do you think he can bring this out of you?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: We have to see. Like I said I have never fought the man yet, so I can’t say if he is my toughest opponent or not.

When you look at Diaz’ resume, what stand out to you?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: I don’t look at a fighter’s record. If a fighter can fight, he can fight, and that’s that.

Do you feel as though he has enough power to make you worry?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: I never underestimate any opponent. I just go in there and make sure I don’t get caught with anything – I don’t want to go in there and be careless.

If you were to give a report on his strengths and weaknesses, what would you say?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: I don’t know if I can give that because every fight is different. Each fighter fights every opponent different. If he had one weakness in his previous fights that might be different when he fights me. I have to make sure that I am prepared 110% for whatever he brings to the table.

You have been moving up in the P4P lists – do you pay attention to that? What do you think about the Canelo-GGG fight?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: I pay a little bit of attention to it but at the same time I look at it as status playing a big part in ratings but at the same time I just worry about winning and everything else will fall into place. GGG and Canelo – that is going to be a tremendous fight. I am looking forward to watching it whenever it happens, and yes, I think my name should be mentioned up there with theirs.

What do you think fighting in the big room will do to elevate your status in the boxing world?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: For me, going from the Theater to the big arena right now – that says a lot right now. I have to keep winning and putting on great performances and eventually my name is going to be bigger than it is right now.

Is there anything new in preparation for this fight?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: Nothing really new. Just trying to get better and working on the things that we know that we have to do to be the best.

RED SPIKES: I have no concerns. Terence trains hard. He listens. We get better in each camp. We make the proper adjustments to adjust to the opponents – his size his strength, his speed – and just making sure that Terence is the best person himself and properly prepared for the fight and after all the hard work is done in training camp there is nothing to be concerned about.

Gamboa has never been the same since you fought him – what do you think about that?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: I don’t know what I may have done to him in the fight. I can’t say I did this to him or I did that to him – you will have to ask him that.

Have you notice in his performance that he hasn’t been the same fighter?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: He’s been going through a lot of promotional battles and he can’t seem to stay active – that is one thing that I have noticed.

Bob, what does it mean for Crawford to fight in the big arena?

BOB ARUM: Obviously fighting in the main arena as the main event makes a statement and it’s what our plans are, and our plans are that Terence Crawford, before he hangs up his gloves, will be recognized as the greatest fighter of his time. That’s going to be up to Terence but he has the tools, the personality and the ability to reach that goal. And our job as a promoter is that he has every opportunity to show the world that he is the best fighter of his era. Fighting on the big stage that is Madison Square Garden where Ali fought and where Marvin Hagler fought, where Oscar De La Hoya fought and now where Terence Crawford is fighting is a step in that direction. It’s clear – obviously we could have taken the fight to Omaha and have a massive sellout like we always do, but we decided that we wanted to showcase Terence at the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden. We are going to have a tremendous crowd – tickets are going extremely well and we have dressed up the card with really great young fighters – like Shakur Stevenson; like Fazliddin Gaibnazarov the Olympic Gold Medalist in Rio who comes from Uzbekistan; Teofimo Lopez, a rising star in the sport; and it will all come down to the main event, which will feature Terence Crawford and it will be a statement that he will make in his quest to become the best fighter of our era. Simple as that – there is no place else in boxing, with all due respect to Las Vegas and other arenas, there is no place in boxing that has the symbolism and the history of Madison Square Garden. Now Terence will have the opportunity to perform on the biggest of all stages – the Mecca of Boxing.

Terence, can you speak about fighting outside of Omaha and becoming a draw in other places?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: Yes, I have been fighting away from home all of my career – basically all of my life, that I never really had a lot of amateur tournaments in Omaha, Nebraska, so it says a lot. I have been traveling and traveling and traveling to fight here and there. The first time I had the privilege to fight in Omaha, it was a big turnout, so big that everybody that came in felt like this was the only place that I ever fought at – in Omaha. So for me to go to other cities and being able to sell out, and have a lot of people from Omaha follow me, shows the type of career that I am having – and it’s a tremendous career.

What do you think people will learn about you in the “Camp Life” video?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: You can learn that I train real hard and that I am a real humble guy. You should watch the “Camp Life” and you can be the judge.

The fight many would want to see is Pacquiao-Crawford, is that a fight you could see happening if they get through their opponents?

BOB ARUM: I don’t like to project too far ahead, but I would agree with you. I am not content with guys fighting once or twice a year. That is BS. Guys have to fight regularly. Terence will fight in May and Manny is fighting in July. Terence would I think if he gets through this fight well, to get back in the ring again in the summer and then we will look to the fall. Would Pacquiao and Crawford be a good fight, a big fight, a big attraction? You bet your ass it will and we will, all things being equal, we will do our best to make that fight. I think the public wants to see it and the public will support it. Manny Pacquiao has been a great fighter and a great attraction. I love Manny Pacquiao. Manny Pacquiao is the kind of guy who is not afraid to step up and fight anybody. Terence Crawford is the rising star in boxing. Everybody would love to see that fight, but that’s all I can say about it. I agree with your assessment, that it’s a fight that the fans want to see, and if it’s a fight that the fans want to see, a promoter has the obligation to make it happen.

Would that fight, if it came about, be at 140 or 147? Terence, do you have thoughts about moving up in weight?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: Well, right now I am fighting at 140 and that is my main focus right now and who knows what the future may hold. If I need to fight at 147, I’ll fight at 147 and if I need to fight at 140 I’ll fight at 140. Right now I am focused more on Felix Diaz than anything else.

Is Pacquiao on your radar? Is that somebody you’d like to fight?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: No question Pacquiao is someone I would like to fight, but if it’s not in front of me then I am really not worried about it.

Barring Pacquiao and assuming you get by this fight, who else is at 140 that you could fight that could bring you A) the kind of money that you could make (B) the kind of attention hat you would like and (C) in your weight class. Is there anyone?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: Julius Indongo is.

So you would like to unify the titles?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: Of Course

CARL MORETTI: Indongo will be at the fight.

BOB ARUM: He is a good fighter this kid. That’s a guy that people haven’t heard of because he hasn’t fought in the United States but our matchmakers say he is a damn good fighter and apparently looking forward, down the line. I disagree that there are not any fighters at 140 that want to fight. Mikey Garcia keeps shooting his mouth off about going up to 140 to fight Terence – I mean that’s a possibility. Again, if we put him in with Manny – Manny is a 147 pound champion, but Manny goes into the ring at 144 pounds and to even go in the ring at 144 he has to eat about 5000 calories a day, or more, when he is training, because Manny is not a big welterweight.

How about besides Pacquiao?

BOB ARUM: Besides Pacquiao, there is this kid, Julius Indongo that is coming on that is a very good fighter that I think holds the other two titles now at 140 – that’s a possibility and there is the possibility of Mikey Garcia.

There was an announcement with Indongo after he beat Ricky Burns, that his promoter was going to work with Eddie Hearn – have you spoken to them?

BOB ARUM: Indongo is coming to the fight and we will all talk to him when he comes to the fight. If the kid wants to fight Terence, then that’s the time to talk to him. If he doesn’t want to fight Terence then Eddie Hearn or the African promoter or any other promoter, then there is no sense talking. If the kid says he wants to fight Terence, and that’s the fight, then we’ll make it happen. And you will have the opportunity, I assume, to interview this kid on Saturday at The Garden.

Would he be coming to the fight if he wasn’t interested in fighting Terence?

BOB ARUM: Well, there you go.

There has only been one other time in boxing history where the fighter has unified all four titles so it is extremely rare…

BOB ARUM: For people that think that’s important, that would be a great thing.

TERENCE CRAWFORD: Well, I never kept track of how many people have ever had held all four titles, but it is one of my goals to say that I am undisputed champion.

Bernard knocked out Oscar to unify the four middleweight titles and then Jermaine won to win those four titles, so those were the two guys but only the one fight to unify the four titles. Did you watch the Indongo-Burns fight and what did you think?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: I watched the fight and he put on a great performance. He did what he had to do to get the job done. He’s tall and rangy and he can box. It would be a good fight.

Stylistically it seems like it would be a crowd pleaser – do you think?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: Of course.

This will be the first time in a long time you have fought a true left-hander. Did it change preparation?

TERENCE CRAWFORD: I prepare for whatever. I have fought left handers before in both the amateurs and pro and it won’t be any different come Saturday night.

RED SPIKES (Assistant Coach): Just what Terence said. He was No. 1 in the amateurs for three years in a row and fought all over the world against, Cubans, Canadians, Venezuelans, left hand, right hand, tall, short – he is one of the best in the game at adapting. He’ll be OK Saturday night.

LOU DiBELLA: I am really looking forward to what I think is a really good fight and I am really happy with all of the karma coming out from the media with this fascination with Indongo who has never fought in the US and does not have the resume that Felix does because the more you talk about Indongo, the more mojo is thrown in our direction. I know how good Crawford is. Felix knows how good Crawford is. The media knows how good Crawford is, but he is not G_d, he is not unbeatable. He’s had tough fights and I think he’s had tough fights with guys like Gamboa, who was a little guy who gave him a tough fight for a while and Diaz has a lot of the same attributes when it comes to pressure and style which could make it a very difficult night for Bud. Felix has wanted this fight forever. This is a kid that grew up with nothing. A poor kid from the Dominican Republic that became a top amateur and became the Dominican’s only Olympic Gold Medalist in the history of the country in 2008. The only gold medal for boxing in the Dominican. This is the culmination of a professional boxing career that began in 2009. Joel Diaz in California trains him. He moved up to welterweight and had a big win against Sammy Vazquez. He had to move up to welterweight to get that opportunity. He’s got a lot of other quality wins and I thought he beat Lamont Peterson. He’s beaten Emmanuel Lartey and Adrian Granados and Gabriel Bracero before he lost to Peterson. I think this is the toughest challenge that Terence Crawford has ever had and I’m looking forward to it – it is going to be in New York and there will be a nice Dominican contingent there to support Felix.

Felix, you worked hard to call out Terence, which a lot of people do not do. How do you feel now that you have the fight?

FÉLIX DÍAZ: I called out Terence because Terence is the best in the division. It is a big opportunity for me to fight at Madison Square Garden against Terence Crawford.

What is it about Crawford that you think you can beat him?

FÉLIX DÍAZ: With his style, I know I can beat Terence Crawford. Crawford has fought no one like me. Stylistically, I can beat him.

Indongo is going to be ringside for the fight and Bob Arum hopes that if all goes well they can set up that unification fight.

FÉLIX DÍAZ: I am definitely motivated that I am being overlooked and that I am the underdog. But I have my own plans. I am going to destroy Top Rank’s plans.

What could you take away from the Lamont Peterson fight – that many people thought you won?

FÉLIX DÍAZ: I learned a lot in that fight and got the experience of fighting one of the great fighters in the division. It is great to have the experience to go in there and go 12 rounds with that guy. Adapting to each fighter is different for each fight but having that experience of 12 tough rounds will really help me.

Do you feel that you have the power to scare Crawford at all?

FÉLIX DÍAZ: There is going to be a difference. I feel a lot stronger at 140. If you look you will notice that every person I fought at 140, I knocked them out, except for Granados, who I knocked down twice (rounds 9 & 10).

What did you see in the Postol fight that impressed you?

LOU DiBELLA: I didn’t see much about Postol that impressed me at all. Postol was fighting a really good fighter and that may have had something to do with it, but I don’t care if he was fighting Bozo the Clown, Postol brought nothing to that dance.

FÉLIX DÍAZ: I saw nothing from Crawford in the Postol fight – he did not impress me.

What were you not impressed with the Postol fight?

FÉLIX DÍAZ: I did not get to see the whole Postol fight but the parts I did see I was not impressed.

Do you think Crawford is overrated?

LOU DiBELLA: I think he is a damn good fighter. Do I think he is overrated? I think he has fought some smaller guys. I don’t think his resume screams of the best in the world but in this day and age not a lot of resumes do. Until someone proves otherwise he is a terrific fighter and Felix wanted this fight because he views Crawford as the best. I do believe that now he will be in there with a guy with real credentials who is a real 140-pounder. He has maybe fought a lot of guys that were smaller and not at the level of Felix. But I take nothing away from the guy – he is certainly one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the game today. Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of resumes that look like Hearns, Leonard, Duran, Whitaker or those kinds of situations any more because we have to do a better job of getting the best in with the best. I think the people should come out to The Garden on May 20 because this is an example of the best fighting the best.

How much do you think Crawford will switch back and forth to southpaw?

FÉLIX DÍAZ: It all depends on Crawford. When he sees what I am bringing in, he is going to have to adjust to me. I really can’t answer that question until we get in the ring to really see. I cannot anticipate what he is going to do until we get in the ring.

What does it mean to fight at The Garden?

FÉLIX DÍAZ: It is great to be able to fight at Madison Square Garden, the Mecca of Boxing and the Mecca of history. I know that a lot of the Dominicans from Manhattan and the Bronx and the Dominican communities will be coming out to support me.

What did you take away from the Peterson fight in Virginia?

FÉLIX DÍAZ: I don’t feel that I lost the fight. I did everything possible to win that fight. The judges were not on my side, maybe it was because of the style of the fight, but I feel I did enough to beat Lamont Peterson. I regret that I didn’t knock him out but

LOU DiBELLA: I think we learned that it’s not an ideal situation to fight a Virginian fighter in Virginia.

In Closing…

LOU DiBELLA: It took a long time to make this and maybe not under all of the terms we would have liked, but thank you to Top Rank and Terence Crawford’s team for giving Felix the opportunity and Felix is going to make the most of it on May 20.

FÉLIX DÍAZ: I would like to thank everyone that has made this fight possible and you will see on May 20 what I am able to bring to the table and I hope that people take notice.

****************

The HBO telecast will open with RAY “Sugar” BELTRAN (32-7-1, 20 KOs), of Phoenix, AZ by way of Ahome, Mexico, and JONATHAN “The Last Inca” MAICELO (25-2, 12 KOs), of North Bergen, New Jersey by way of Callao, Peru, going mano a mano in a high-stakes battle of world-rated lightweight contenders. Sanctioned by the International Boxing Federation (IBF) as a world lightweight title elimination bout, the winner of the 12-round rumble will also lay claim to the vacant World Boxing Association (WBA) International and the NABF and NABO lightweight titles, currently held by Beltran. The world championship event will also feature the Pride of Newark and 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist SHAKUR STEVENSON (1-0). Stevenson’s bout and all the undercard bouts will be streamed live exclusively via www.toprank.tv.

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with DiBella Entertainment, Tecate and Madison Square Garden, remaining tickets to the Crawford vs. Díaz world championship event are priced at $250, $150, $100, $75, $50 and $35. They can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008), and online at www.ticketmaster.com and www.thegarden.com.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo Facebook.com/dibellaentertainment, https://www.facebook.com/felixmanuel.diazguzman, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014790258442 or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, www.twitter.com/LouDiBella, www.twitter.com/felixmldiaz or twitter.com/hboboxing. Use the Hashtag #CrawfordDiaz to join the conversation on Twitter.

NEW YORK (May 9. 2017) — Two-time world title challenger RAY “Sugar” BELTRAN and heavy-fisted JONATHAN “The Last Inca” MAICELO will go mano a mano in a high-stakes battle of world-rated lightweight contenders. Sanctioned by the International Boxing Federation (IBF) as a world lightweight title elimination bout, the winner of the 12-round rumble will also lay claim to the vacant World Boxing Association (WBA) International and the NABF and NABO lightweight titles, currently held by Beltran. Beltran vs. Maicelo will be the co-main event to the TERENCE “Bud” CRAWFORD – FÉLIX DÍAZ World Junior Welterweight Championship, Saturday, May 20, at the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden. Both fights will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT. The world championship event will also feature the Pride of Newark and 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist SHAKUR STEVENSON on the non-televised undercard.

Beltran and Maicelo, who hail from Mexico and Peru, respectively, have a combined record of 57-9-1 (32 KOs), — a winning percentage of 85% with over half their victories coming by way of knockout. Both boast unbeaten streaks dating back to 2015..

“We are ready for this fight. It is a very important fight for the whole team, because it will be the fight that will take us to the opportunity of battling for a world title,” said Beltran. “We are focused on winning. We are coming to fight and give a great show to all the fans. I don’t just want to win. I want to look good and win convincingly. Little by little I am making my dreams come true. I have battled a lot in my career. We have fulfilled many of our goals, like now that we are going to fight at Madison Square Garden. Being able to fight in a historical place, where all the greats have fought, is a dream come true.”

“This is a very important fight for my career. This fight means everything to me because I will be able to display my skills in front of a big audience and on a big stage like Madison Square Garden,” said Maicelo. “Right now I’m at my best and on May 20 everyone will see the best of me. I’m working very hard in the gym because everyone knows that Beltran is a tough fighter, but I’m focused on winning because this is a world title elimination bout that will take me straight to the opportunity of fighting for a world title.”

Beltran (32-7-1, 20 KOs), a native of Ahome, Mexico who resides in Phoenix, AZ., enters this fight having won his last three fights by knockout. A two-time lightweight world title challenger and a former sparring partner of eight-division world champion Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, Beltran still trains at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Calif. In his last fight, in the co-main event to the Crawford John Molina Jr. world title fight on December 10, Crawford scored a sensational one-punch seventh-round knockout of once-beaten Mason Menard in an NABF-NABO lightweight title fight. Beltran is currently world-rated No. 2 by the World Boxing Organization (WBO), No. 3 by the IBF and No. 4 by the World Boxing Council (WBC).

Maicelo (25-2, 12 KOs), a native of Callao, Peru who fights out of North Bergen, New Jersey, is riding a two-year four-bout winning streak. His most impressive victory was his in his last fight, against Jose Felix, Jr. on February 17. Felix, who entered the fight with a 35-1-1 record and world-rated No. 3 by the WBO, was knocked down five times by Maicelo. Maicelo’s upset unanimous decision victory over Felix has propelled him to No. 7 in the IBF.

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with DiBella Entertainment, Tecate, Antonio Leonard Productions and Madison Square Garden, remaining tickets to the Crawford vs. Díaz world championship event are priced at $250, $150, $100, $75, $50 and $35. They can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008), and online at www.ticketmaster.com and www.thegarden.com.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo Facebook.com/dibellaentertainment, https://www.facebook.com/felixmanuel.diazguzman, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014790258442 or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, www.twitter.com/LouDiBella, www.twitter.com/felixmldiaz or twitter.com/hboboxing. Use the Hashtag #CrawfordDiaz to join the conversation on Twitter.

NEW YORK (May 3, 2017) — Hot off his high-profile pro debut, 2016 Olympic silver medalist SHAKUR STEVENSON will soon return to the ring for his second professional bout. The crown jewel of the U.S. Olympic boxing team and the Pride of Newark, New Jersey, will be featured in a six-round featherweight bout on the undercard of the TERENCE “Bud” CRAWFORD – FÉLIX DÍAZ World Junior Welterweight Championship, Saturday, May 20, at the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden. He’ll be facing Carlos Suarez (6-3-2, one KO), from La Plata, Argentina. This will be the first time Stevenson has fought close to home since the New Jersey Golden Gloves in early 2015. Crawford vs. Díaz will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing®, beginning at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT.

Stevenson, 19, made his pro debut, on April 22, defeating Edgar Brito via a six-round featherweight technical decision. The fight was stopped just after the beginning of the sixth round with the ringside doctor ruling that Brito was cut too badly from an earlier clash of heads to continue. Stevenson won every round on every judge’s scorecard. The fight was featured on a world championship tripleheader pay-per-view telecast at StubHub Center in Carson Calif. Stevenson has been training for this fight in Colorado Springs with Crawford.

“It’s been a long time since I fought so close to home and I can’t wait to perform in front of my friends and family,” said Stevenson. My city has always supported me and I know that Newark is going to come out on May 20. There have been so many huge fights at Madison Square Garden and I’m excited to fight in the Big Room where so many greats have fought before. I’m training out in Colorado with Terence Crawford and I’m happy I get to fight on his card in such a historic arena. I’m going to make sure everyone comes out and supports us both. It feels good to have my first pro fight under my belt. My pro debut was great, I had two Olympic gold medalists walk me out and my hero Andre Ward ringside yelling instructions to me. My opponent was tough and tried to make it dirty but I learned a lot and am going to put that knowledge to good use on May 20 in my first east coast professional fight.”

“I have to admit, I’m a little jealous. Shakur has the opportunity to fight at The Garden in his second fight, where as I’ve fought over 30 times and have yet to have a fight on that sacred ground,” said two-division world champion Andre Ward, who co-manages Stevenson. “Actually, I guess that’s the way it’s supposed to be. The next generation going further than the older generation. I’m super excited for him, he shines the brightest on the biggest stage. There are not too many bigger stages than The Garden in boxing, and really all of sports.”

“My first fight there was exciting being that it was Madison Square Garden, but it was in The Theater. I didn’t get to fight in the Big Room in my first fight like Shakur,” said Crawford. “I’m excited to fight in the Big Room being that there hasn’t been a Top Rank show there since Miguel Cotto. I’m glad Shakur will be on the card with me.”

“It’s only his second professional fight, but Shakur is more than ready to make his debut on boxing’s biggest stage, Madison Square Garden,” said Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank.. “He is made for the bright lights of the Big Apple and he will shine like a diamond on May 20.”

In last year’s Summer Games, Stevenson sailed though every stage of his Olympic competition in Rio De Janeiro before losing a close split decision in the bantamweight championship fight to 2012 flyweight Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez of Cuba. Ramirez swept the judges’ scorecards in round one with Stevenson returning the favor in round two. In the third and final round, the closest of the three rounds, two of the three judges gave the round to Ramirez and the gold medal, by the slimmest of margins. It was the best finish for an American male boxer since Andre Ward captured the gold medal in the Athens Games of 2004. Newark came to a standstill each time Stevenson stepped into the ring in his quest to win Olympic gold. On the day he fought Ramirez, “Stevenson Fever” was at its peak. Barry Carter, columnist for the Star-Ledger, reported the following: “At Broad and Market streets, the city put its ’24 Hour of Peace’ rally on hold and set up a big screen for residents to watch the fight.” At the CityPlex 12 Theater in Newark, hundreds of fans and family members wearing t-shirts emblazoned with “In Shakur’s Corner,” crammed in to see the fight, all sitting on the edge of their seats, to watch the live-streamed fight and cheer for their man.

Ward is now part of Stevenson’s management team along with James Prince and attorney Josh Dubin. The only boxer to make Forbes “30 Under 30” in its Sports category, Stevenson was selected by a panel of judges comprised of James Harden, shooting guard for the Houston Rockets, Phil Knight, Chairman Emeritus of Nike and Casey Wasserman, Chairman and CEO of the Wasserman Group.

The oldest of nine children, Stevenson, who is named for the late rap star Tupac Shakur, was introduced to boxing by his grandfather, Willie “Wali” Moses, at age 5. Now based in northern Virginia, Stevenson is trained by Moses and Kay Koroma.

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with DiBella Entertainment, Tecate, Antonio Leonard Productions and Madison Square Garden, remaining tickets to the Crawford vs. Díaz world championship event are priced at $250, $150, $100, $75, $50 and $35. They can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008), and online at www.ticketmaster.com and www.thegarden.com.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo Facebook.com/dibellaentertainment, https://www.facebook.com/felixmanuel.diazguzman, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014790258442 or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, www.twitter.com/LouDiBella, www.twitter.com/felixmldiaz or twitter.com/hboboxing. Use the Hashtag #CrawfordDiaz to join the conversation on Twitter.

LONDON (5 April) – One of the world’s best pound-for-pound boxers Terence Crawford will be back exclusively live on BoxNation when he defends his WBC, WBO and Ring Magazine super-lightweight world titles against the slick Felix Diaz on May 20th as part of the channel’s exclusive output deal with promoters Top Rank.

‘The Channel of Champions’ will be the only place to watch the undefeated Omaha native as he looks to carry on his momentous rise when he meets Olympic gold medalist and top-rated contender Diaz at the iconic Madison Square Garden.

Dominican Republic ace Diaz has only lost once in his career, that being a majority points decision against Lamont Peterson in 2015, but he has since enjoyed back-to-back wins and will be relishing his chance on the big stage.

29-year-old Crawford has dazzled ever since his impressive win against Breidis Prescott in 2013 and has gone on to beat a host of world champions including Scotland’s Ricky Burns, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Viktor Postol.

Diaz will represent a different challenge with his southpaw stance and boxing ability but Crawford is determined to shine under the lights at the ‘Mecca of Boxing’ and prove why he is so highly-rated live on BoxNation.

“Come May 20th, I will be ready for whatever Felix Diaz brings to the ring that night,” said Crawford. “It’s going to be a great experience fighting at Madison Square Garden in the big arena where all the greats have fought. I’m looking forward to that night.”

“We’ve got our work cut out for us fighting against another Olympic gold medalist,” said Brian McIntyre, Crawford’s trainer and co-manager. “It’s an honour to fight in the arena at Madison Square Garden. It’s a step up going from The Theater into the big room.”

33-year-old Diaz was in equally upbeat mood and is out to seize his opportunity of stardom.

“The time has finally come. I will share a ring with one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and I tip my hat to Crawford for accepting me as an opponent on May 20th because I am no pushover,” said Diaz.

“I’m coming to bring my A-game and I couldn’t be more grateful to be able to showcase my skills at Madison Square Garden, which is just 15 minutes from where I live. I will take full advantage of this opportunity. I respect Crawford and believe he is a great fighter, but every king can be dethroned.”

Jim McMunn, BoxNation Managing Director, said: “Terence Crawford is undoubtedly one of the very best fighters on the planet and we are delighted to be able to showcase his next fight exclusively live on BoxNation. Felix Diaz is a well schooled and respected fighter who will be looking to make his breakthrough by beating Crawford. This is certainly Crawford’s toughest task to date and BoxNation subscribers will not miss a minute of the action on May 20th from Madison Square Garden.”

BoxNation is available on Sky/Freeview/Virgin/TalkTalk/EE/Apple TV/ online at watch.boxnation.com and via apps (iOS, Android, Amazon) for just £12 a month. Buy now at boxnation.com.

– ENDS –

About BoxNation
BoxNation, the Channel of Champions and proud partner of Rainham Steel, is the UK’s first dedicated boxing channel. From £12* per month with no minimum term customers can enjoy great value live and exclusive fights, classic fight footage, magazine shows and interviews with current and former fighters.
Previous highlights have included Haye vs Chisora, Mayweather vs Maidana, Saunders vs Eubank Jr and Khan vs Canelo.
The channel is available on Sky (Ch.437), Freeview (Ch.255), Virgin (Ch.546), TalkTalk (Ch.415), online at watch.boxnation.com and via apps (ios, Android, Amazon, Apple TV). BoxNation is also available in high definition on Sky (Ch. 490), at no extra cost to Sky TV subscribers, providing they are already HD enabled.
Available on selected internet-connected Freeview products only, subject to coverage. Visit freeview.co.uk/availability.
BoxNation is also available to commercial premises (inc. pubs, clubs and casino’s) in the UK and Ireland, for more information on a commercial subscription please call 0844 842 7700.
For more information visit www.boxnation.com
*Plus £8 registration fee for Sky TV customers

NEW YORK (April 4, 2017) — Undefeated World Junior Welterweight Champion and top pound for pound fighter TERENCE “Bud” CRAWFORD will make his 2017 debut, Saturday, May 20, at the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden. This will also be his debut headlining in the big room — a testament both to his talent and his growing popularity. Crawford will be defending his unified World Boxing Organization (WBO) / World Boxing Council (WBC) / Ring magazine titles against former Olympic gold medalist and top-rated contender FÉLIX DÍAZ in a marquee all-action fight. It will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT.

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with DiBella Entertainment, Tecate and Madison Square Garden, tickets to the Crawford vs. Díaz world championship event will go on sale Tomorrow! Wednesday, April 5, at 10 a.m. ET / 7:00 a.m. PT. Priced at $250, $150, $100, $75, $50 and $35, tickets can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008), and online at www.ticketmaster.com and www.thegarden.com.

“Crawford vs. Díaz was made for The Garden and I anticipate a battle between these two warriors worthy of its moniker as the Mecca of Boxing,” said Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum.

“Come May 20, I will be ready for whatever Félix Díaz brings to the ring that night,” said Crawford. “It’s going to be a great experience fighting at Madison Square Garden in the big arena where all the greats have fought. I’m looking forward to that night.”

“We’ve got our work cut out for us fighting against another Olympic gold medalist,” said Brian McIntyre, Crawford’s trainer and co-manager. “It’s an honor to fight in the arena at Madison Square Garden. It’s a step up going from The Theater into the big room.”

“First, I would like to thank the man upstairs for making my dream come true. I would also like to thank Lou DiBella, Al Haymon, HBO and my manager Jose Nuñez for working around the clock to get me to this point,” said Díaz. “The time has finally come. I will share a ring with one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and I tip my hat to Crawford for accepting me as an opponent on May 20 because I am no pushover. I’m coming to bring my A-game and I couldn’t be more grateful to be able to showcase my skills on HBO and at Madison Square Garden, which is just 15 minutes from where I live. I will take full advantage of this opportunity. I respect Crawford and believe he is a great fighter, but every king can be dethroned.”

“Félix Díaz is an Olympic gold medalist, a seasoned professional and the best fighter Terence Crawford has ever fought. We have been chasing this fight for a year because Felix and our team believe we can win. The fans will win when they see a terrific, competitive fight on May 20th,” said Lou DiBella, the promoter of Díaz.

“On May 20, unified champ Terence Crawford faces gold medalist Félix Díaz in a fight to light up Madison Square Garden,” said Peter Nelson, Executive Vice President, HBO Sports. “Holding two belts and a place on any top pound for pound list, Terence Crawford looks to have his 2017 debut make a big statement in the Big Apple. Fans will see both fighters’ mettle tested at the Mecca of Boxing.”

Crawford (30-0, 21 KOs), of Omaha, Neb., is a two-division world champion who has won five of his last seven bouts by stoppage. He unified the 140-pound titles in a battle between consensus Top-10 pound-for-pound fighters on July 23, 2016, successfully defending his WBO junior welterweight title for the third time by winning a unanimous decision over previously undefeated WBC super lightweight champion Viktor Postol. That victory also garnered him The Ring title, designating him the lineal champion. He made his first defense of his unified titles on December 10, stopping No. 1 contender and one-time world title challenger John Molina Jr. in front of a record crowd at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha. The consensus Top-Five pound-for-pound fighter will be looking to keep building on his star-making 2014 which featured three world championship victories as well as Fighter of the Year honors from the Boxing Writers Association of America and major media alike. Crawford, 29, captured the vacant WBO junior welterweight crown on April 18, 2015, via a devastating sixth-round knockout of once-beaten No. 2 world-rated contender Thomas Dulorme. His title defenses include stopping No. 2 world-rated contender Dierry Jean in front of a packed house at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha on October 24, 2015, knocking out Top-10 contender Hank Lundy in the fifth round on February 27, 2016, at a sold-out Theater at Madison Square Garden, and headlining his first pay-per-view on July 23, where he totally dominated Postol. Crawford began his career-best year on March 1, 2014, just 13 days short of the sixth anniversary of his professional debut. He captured his first world title, the WBO lightweight title, dethroning defending champion Ricky Burns on Burns’ home turf of Glasgow, Scotland. Scoring a powerful and unanimous decision, Crawford put the boxing world on notice with his virtuoso performance as he pulled out all stops in dismantling Burns, rocking the defending champion throughout the fight, while switching back and forth between orthodox and southpaw stances. He followed that with a dramatic and critically-acclaimed knockout victory of undefeated former world champion and Cuban Olympic gold medalist Yuriorkis Gamboa on June 28, 2014, in a Fight of the Year nominee. It was one of the most-watched fights of the year with over 1.2 million viewers catching the live, first-time airing of the fight, according to Nielsen Media Research. He concluded 2014 on November 29 with a thorough shellacking of one-time world title challenger and No. 1 contender Ray Beltran, winning 11 of the 12 rounds. Crawford, who is friendly with Warren Buffet, is only the second Nebraska native to be recognized as a boxing world champion. Perry “Kid” Graves, from Rock Bluff, captured the welterweight crown, knocking out Johnny Alberts in Brooklyn, in 1914, according to the Omaha World-Herald.

Díaz (19-1, 9 KOs), from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, now living in New York, ended his outstanding amateur career with an exclamation point — winning the 2008 Olympic light welterweight gold medal. He was the first Dominican fighter to win Olympic gold and only the second Dominican athlete, joining Félix Sánchez, who won gold in the 400 meter hurdles in the 2004 Summer Games. A natural junior welterweight, Diaz has been forced to campaign at welterweight because viable opponents in the in 140-pound division have been running from him. The only blemish on his record was a disputed 12-round welterweight majority decision loss to two-division world champion Lamont Peterson in 2015, a fight most observers thought Díaz deserved to win. Díaz bounced back from that loss with a dominant unanimous decision victory over previously undefeated contender Sammy Vasquez and sixth-round stoppage of Levis Morales, both in 2016. A southpaw with excellent skills and movement and strong punching power, Díaz, 33, is world-rated No. 3 by the WBC. He is very experienced against very good opposition.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo Facebook.com/dibellaentertainment, https://www.facebook.com/felixmanuel.diazguzman, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014790258442 or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, www.twitter.com/LouDiBella, www.twitter.com/felixmldiaz or twitter.com/hboboxing. Use the Hashtag #CrawfordDiaz to join the conversation on Twitter.

World Super Welterweight champion Terence Crawford’s May 20th title defense against Felix Diaz will now take place on May 20th at Madison Square Garden instead of The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.

“When we were in town for the Conlan fight they asked us why we were going to the Prudential Center,” Top Rank president Todd duBoef told ESPN. “We know how hard it is to get a Saturday night at the Garden at that time of year. We assumed the Garden was off limits because they always have so many dates they have to hold for the NBA and NHL playoffs. But they said, ‘Listen, there may be an opportunity. Would you be open to shifting the fight to the Garden? I said, ‘We love going to the Garden.’ They said, ‘Are you interested? We think we can pull it off.'”

Top Rank looked to Newark in part because featherweight Shakur Stevenson, the 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist, is from Newark and will have his second professional fight on the card and figured to bring a crowd.

“But for Crawford there was no magic to fighting in Newark,” duBoef said. “We want Shakur to fight in Newark and we expect to have him fight there, but it will be bigger when he’s a more developed fighter. I think going to Madison Square Garden is a great platform for Crawford as well as for Shakur.

“I think it’s the best of both worlds for the event. The fans from Newark who want to come out and see Shakur fight can easily come into New York. It’s about a 15-minute train ride. And Terence has fans throughout the area and whether he was going to fight in Newark or New York or Las Vegas his fans are great about traveling from his hometown (Omaha, Nebraska).”

“Felix Diaz has Dominican roots and there is a strong Dominican presence in New York,” he said. “The Garden said they will be very aggressive in marketing the fight and we were able to work something out.”

“I think he’s had a terrific last couple of years, including getting fighter of the year in 2014 and he has a wonderful fan base that travels,” he said. “I think the timing is right. It all came together nicely. We know he did terrific fighting in Omaha and Las Vegas. A lot of his fans traveled to Las Vegas for the Viktor Postol (unification) fight in July. It’s a natural progression to build his brand by bringing him to the most prestigious arena in the world.

“It just makes a lot of sense. At the end of the day, we were able to come together and get creative in the structure of the deal with Madison Square Garden. They were proactive and they worked with us. The Garden came in kind of at the 11th hour, but we’re thrilled.”

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, unified 140-lb champion Terence Crawford will be back in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska on May 20th, possibly against Felix Diaz.

“I want to do the fight with Felix Diaz. That’s the best fight for us to make,” said Crawford promoter Bob Arum, who added that some of his closest advisers in the company are against it. “Lou DiBella (Diaz’s promoter) calls me every day about it. That’s the fight I want to make.”

“I’m about to call him again today,” DiBella told ESPN. “My guy is ready, willing and able to go May 20 and Omaha would be fine with us. I know there are people within Top Rank that like the fight very much and also I know there are people within Top Rank that don’t. That’s the way it usually is with a really good, competitive fight. I’ve been in this business a long time and I gave Bob a number that’s fair and he didn’t balk. I’m going to continue calling him every day until we hopefully close the deal.”

“I know how good Terence Crawford is and I don’t think for a second he is scared of anybody,” DiBella said. “But that being said, given his recent fight the fans want him to be challenged and there’s no question Felix Diaz brings a challenge. There are guys out there screaming for a fight with Manny Pacquiao or to get Floyd Mayweather out of retirement, but there aren’t guys screaming they want to fight Terence Crawford. But Felix Diaz wants Terence Crawford. He believes Crawford is his measuring stick to see how good he is. He thinks, ‘You’re good, the public thinks you’re good, so I want to fight you.'”