If this was Terence Crawford's last fight at 135 pounds, he went out of the division in style.
Crawford dominated the rugged Ray Beltran over twelve rounds and once again proved himself to be a star on the rise.
In front of a packed house of 11,127 at the CenturyLink Center in his native Omaha, Nebraska, Crawford (25-0, 17 KOs) dominated en route to a unanimous-decision victory by scores of 119-109 (twice) and 120-108.
"I'm just blessed, I'm just happy," said Crawford, who made the second defense of the lightweight title he captured in March from Ricky Burns in Scotland.
Crawford looks to be moving up to the junior welterweight division now with no big name challengers in his current weight class.
"This is it [at lightweight]," Crawford said. "This is it -- like Michael Jackson."
Many felt that Beltran had been robbed of the title after a disputed draw with Burns in September of 2013. His chance to right a wrong came against the wrong man.
Beltran (29-7-1, 17 KOs), a native of Mexico, had been known primarily as the chief sparring partner to Manny Pacquiao. HBO talked up him as the best challenger (frankly, Yuriorkis Gamboa is a helluva lot more talented but a helluva lot smaller). But Beltran could not match Crawford in speed, timing or length.
"He's a great champion," Beltran said. "I couldn't handle his timing or his counter-punching."
Beltran landed a nice left hook during the ninth round but that was his only moment of success.
"Crawford is very good, technically," Beltran said. "He sees a lot of things going on in the ring. I did OK for the first four rounds, but then he started to get effective distance on me. I thought I adjusted to him, and then halfway through the right, he readjusted."
Crawford never let Beltran get untracked. He seemed to rise to the occasion as the fight went on and battered the challenger at the end of rounds 10 and 11.
"[Beltran] was such a strong fighter," Crawford said. "I had to work off my jab early in the fight, but because of the big crowd, I tried to push it the last few rounds. I never got for a knockout, but I just pushed it the last three or four rounds. I feel he was slowing down, but I didn't want to get careless like in the Gamboa fight, when I got caught with a stupid shot."
Crawford did not mention any names but his manager is interested in the prospect of facing Manny Pacquiao.
Freddie Roach has stated that Pacquiao will move back down to junior welterweight if they cannot make a bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2015.
UPDATED SETS ON HISTORICAL FIGHTERS
MIKE AYALA – Added in bout with Terry Crowley
PAULIE AYALA – Added in bouts with Thai Condo and amateur fight with Sergio Reyes
NIGEL BENN – Added in rare bout with David Noel
TREVOR BERBICK – Added in bout with David Bey
LAURENT BOUDOUANI – Added in rare bout with Carl Daniels
LAMON BREWSTER – Added in bout with Moses Harris
NORBERT EKASSI – French based Cameroonian had power
LEROY HALEY – Added in bout with Chuck Peralta
RONNIE HARRIS – Added in amateur fight with Josef Grudzien
TOM JOHNSON – Boom Boom's fight with Santos Rebolledo
HILMER KENTY – Rare fight with Chris Fernandez added
SAOUL MAMBY – Ageless one's fight with John Meekins
BARRY MCGUIGAN – Added in bout with Lavon McGowan
TOMMY MORRISON – Amateur fight with John Bray, last fights with Matt Weishaar & Corey Williams, plus bout with 7-foot Marcellus Brown. Also including brief documentary on Morrison called “Still Standing”.
MELDRICK TAYLOR – Added in bout with Craig Houk
RODRIGO VALDEZ – Bout with Edmundo Leite added
PRINCE CHARLES WILLIAMS – Brutal bouts with Merqui Sosa, Mwehu Beja, Anthony Witherspoon
TIM WITHERSPOON – Bout with Tim Puller added
MYUNG WOO YUH – Rematch with Hiroki Ioka added
DUANE BOBICK – Heavyweight contender of the 1970s
JOHNNY DUPLOOY – South African heavyweight fought some big names in the late 1980s
EDER JOFRE – Added in first bout with Joe Medal
DANNY ROMERO – Albuquerque slugger's matches with Harold Grey and Roberto Lopez added
LESLIE STEWART – Trinidad's LHW champ's bout with Guy Waters & Fully Obel added
MIKE WEAVER – Added in rare bouts with Ladislao Mijangos & Bill Corrigan
NEW SETS ON CURRENT FIGHTERS
CHRIS EUBANK JR – Like father, like son?
SAMMY VASQUEZ – The “Who Can Mexi-Can” is fastest rising welter contender
UPDATED SETS ON CURRENT FIGHTERS
JAMES DEGALE – Technically brilliant destruction of Marco Antonio Periban
MICHAEL KATSIDIS – Fight with Eddy Comaro added
TEERACHAI KRATINGDGAENGGYM – Thai welter champ against Abraham Peralta
RUSLAN PROVODNIKOV – Bout with dinosaur Jose Luis Castillo added
SHANNON BRIGGS – Fast starting heavyweight still lobbying for title shot
LUCAS BROWNE – Hulking Australian needs to step up in competition
ROMAN GONZALEZ – Latest title defense against Rocky Fuentes
ANTHONY JOSHUA – Time for a step up in comp? Includes last night's demolition of Sprott
WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO – Added latest ko over Kubrat Pulev
MANNY PACQUIAO – Includes Chris Algieri bout
KUBRAT PULEV – Top heavy contender annihilated by Klitschko
NEW SETS ON HISTORICAL FIGHTERS
JOE MESI – Buffalo heavyweight rose up ranks until brain bleed cut career short
GERMAN TORRES – Power hitting Mexican flyweight of the 1980s
AMADO URSUA – Flyweight strongman's bouts against Hilario Zapata & Tadashi Tomori
FEMALE FIGHTERS
JOSELYN ARROYO – latest bout with Mayela Perez added
KATHY LONG – Kickboxing legend
BOOKS
THE LAST GREAT CONTENDERS – An encyclopedia of the heavyweights contenders of the 1970s
FLOYD MAYWEATHER VS THE ALL TIME GREATS – Mayweather Jr takes on the old-timers in a series of fantasy fights
MANNY PACQUIAO VS THE MODERN GREATS – Pacquiao takes on the best from featherweight to welterweight in dream fight showdowns
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