Terence Crawford vs. Ray Beltran: Live Round-by-Round Results and Highlights

Terence Crawford retained his WBO Lightweight Championship with a dominant unanimous-decision victory over rugged challenger Ray Beltran on Saturday night at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

Scores were 120-108, 119-109 and 119-109 for Crawford.

Bleacher Report’s unofficial scorecard favored Crawford by a 118-110 score.

Crawford (25-0, 17 KO) was absolutely dominant in his second hometown title defense of the year in front of a sold-out crowd.

He boxed beautifully, using his long jab and footwork to control the fight from the opening bell.

Switching to a southpaw stance early—Crawford is one of the few fighters who is equally competent leading with his right or left hand—the champion relegated Beltran (29-7-1, 17 KO) to following him around the ring with few opportunities for offense.

Crawford wasn’t afraid to engage, often getting the better, and he looked to close the show in the final frame, despite having an insurmountable lead on the scorecards.

In post-fight comments to HBO’s Max Kellerman, Crawford, who rehydrated up to 153 pounds on fight night, made it official that he would no longer campaign at lightweight and would be moving up in weight to pursue bigger fights.

With the victory, his third of the year over world-class opposition, he remains a frontrunner for Fighter of the Year honors.

In the co-feature, Russian grinder Evgeny Gradovich retained his IBF Featherweight Championship with a split-decision draw against Jayson Velez.

Scores were 117-111 for Gradovich, 115-113 for Velez and 114-114.

Bleacher Report’s unofficial scorecard had the fight 115-113 for Gradovich.

Gradovich (19-0-1, 9 KO) took a few rounds to get into a rhythm. He struggled with the left jab and movement of Velez in the early going, but seemed to get his bearings and close the distance beginning in Round 4.

Velez (22-0-1, 16 KO) remained game and working hard for the remainder of the fight, but as he tired, Gradovich began to close the distance and land combinations with increasing frequency.

The second half of the fight seemed to clearly favor the champion, but with a fair amount of close rounds, a draw was an unsatisfying but not beyond the pale conclusion for an exciting fight.