Terence Crawford vs. Raymundo Beltran: Preview and Prediction for Title Fight
Terence Crawford will seek to further his Fighter of the Year credentials on Saturday night at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska, defending his WBO Lightweight Championship against rugged challenger Raymundo Beltran.
Crawford took the title on the road against Ricky Burns in Scotland earlier in the year and successfully defended it by blasting Yuriorkis Gamboa in June. This will be his second defense in front of a hometown crowd.
Beltran has a compelling case that he should be the champion. He got jobbed in a title challenge of Burns last year, and he’s coming to Nebraska for more than some picturesque views of corn and open sky.
Crawford vs. Beltran is sure to produce some fireworks on Saturday night with a lightweight championship on the line, and this is your complete preview and prediction.
Tale of the Tape
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| Terence Crawford | Raymundo Beltran | |
| Record | 24-0, 17 KO | 29-6-1, 17 KO |
| Age | 27 | 33 |
| Height | 5'8" | 5'8" |
| Weight | 134.75 (last fight) | 134.5 (last fight) |
| Reach | 70" | 68" |
| Stance | Orthodox | Orthodox |
| Hometown | Omaha, Nebraska | Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico |
| Rounds | 102 | 195 |
| Last Fight | TKO 9 Yuriorkis Gamboa (7/28/14) | UD 12 Arash Usmanee (4/12/14) |
All stats and information per BoxRec.com.
Main Storylines
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Crawford has established himself as one of the top young stars in the sport off his banner year in 2014. He’s brought big-time boxing back to Omaha—not exactly a hotbed of the sport of late—and should find himself in contention for Fighter of the Year with a win.
The future is bright for a young man who went on the road and took a title in notoriously unfriendly confines and then followed it up by seeking out a dangerous challenger for his first defense at home.
Crawford’s star will continue to rise so long as he continues to win. This is another in a string of difficult fights, proving that he won’t be a champion that hides behind his belt.
Beltran should’ve already been a world champion.
He went to Scotland, like Crawford, to challenge Burns, and he got totally jobbed. How any judge on the up and up could score that fight a draw and not for the Mexican challenger is beyond rational comprehension.
Beltran isn’t likely to get many more chances on this level—he’s 33 years old—and needs to make this one count.
Strengths
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Crawford is as well rounded a boxer-puncher as you’ll find in the sport today.
He has great hand and foot speed and is capable of beating you in different ways. He can sit back in the pocket, catch and shoot and beat you with his counters, or he can use his speed and power to beat you by going on the offensive.
Crawford’s defense is first rate. He moves his head extremely well, making him a difficult target to catch with clean punches.
Beltran is a tough guy who acclimates well to whatever style of fighter appears in front of him.
He’s a smart pressure fighter who can uncork a mean left hook that Crawford will need to be conscious of the entire fight.
Beltran applies smart pressure and mixes his punches well. He has better power than his knockout ratio would indicate, and he remains dangerous late into fights. He's sparred dozens of round in Manny Pacquiao's camp, so you know he can hang with the best.
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Weaknesses
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Crawford lacks any glaring weaknesses in his game.
Against Gamboa, he got caught a few times early, but he made the necessary adjustments to get the fight back where he was comfortable.
Crawford has appeared a bit lethargic in some past fights, struggling to put his foot on the gas pedal in the early rounds. That’s something he’ll need to avoid against an aggressive, come-forward fighter like Beltran.
Beltran isn’t the fastest fighter around. He could struggle to get his punches on the mark before Crawford gets out of range.
That speed edge deficit could be his undoing in this fight.
Beltran can’t afford to fight going backward, because Crawford will be able to expose the kinks in his defense. And it’s going to be hard for him to be effective without swarming and leaving himself open to powerful counters that just get there faster.
Terence Crawford Will Win If...
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Crawford has clear advantages in hand and foot speed, boxing technique and overall ability.
He’s a big favorite, and he should win, but he’ll need to be careful and respect Beltran’s power and ability to swarm.
Crawford’s best play is to stay on the outside, forcing Beltran to bring the fight to him.
The Mexican is a rugged customer, but his hand speed just isn’t in the orbit of the champion. That should make him relatively easy to counter.
Crawford rips quick combinations that get to their target with accuracy and power. By forcing Beltran to take the lead and come forward, he should be able to make him miss and make him pay with big shots.
But he needs to make sure to use his jab. That’s a key part of his arsenal, and it will be necessary to help him buy time and space and prevent Beltran from smothering his attack.
If everything goes according to plan, Crawford should be able to win a relatively wide decision.
Raymundo Beltran Will Win If...
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Beltran needs to find ways to get inside of Crawford’s jab and past his defense if he hopes to win his first world championship on Saturday night.
He doesn’t have the speed to win a boxing match—Crawford would beat him to the punch all night long—but he has the power and swarming style that could force the champion into a few tight spots.
Beltran needs to apply pressure, but he has to be smart about it. Rushing in without anything preceding his offense will get him nothing but countered and busted up.
He needs to vary his angles, force his way into Crawford’s chest, smother his attack and start his combinations to the body before coming upstairs.
On the outside, he’s a sitting duck.
By the time he sets and throws a shot, Crawford will either have popped him with a couple of quick shots or gotten out of there.
It’s the inside or nothing if Beltran hopes to win. He needs to be smart but aggressive.
And the Winner Will Be...
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You have to feel for Beltran, a veteran who has bounced from journeyman to high-profile sparring partner to should’ve-been-world-champion.
But he’s running into a fighter on the rise who has him trumped in both style and substance.
Crawford’s speed will be a huge factor on fight night.
Beltran won’t be able to match it. He’ll give it his all—that’s what he does—and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him give Crawford a few rough patches in the early going.
The Omaha native generally takes a couple of rounds to get his feet wet and comfortable in the fight, but he’ll figure Beltran out, use his speed and combinations to bust him up from the outside and discourage him from paying the price of getting past his guard.
Crawford wins this fight by comfortable unanimous decision and moves on to bigger and better things in 2015.
Prediction: Crawford UD 12 Beltran (117-111)
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