The CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska welcomed hometown hero, Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford back into the ring for the second time this year. Crawford, one of the breakthrough fighters of 2014, won the WBO lightweight title early in the year against Ricky Burns in Scotland and then followed it up with a fight of the year candidate with then unbeaten, Yuriorkis Gamboa. Standing in his path now was the long time sparring partner of Manny Pacquiao and number one contender, Raymundo Beltran.

Beltran in the eyes of many was the rightful lightweight champion, having fought to a heavily disputed draw with former belt holder, Ricky Burns late last year. Beltran did however earn his way back to a title shot. A match up between a highly skilled up and comer and a tough and experienced fighter in the peak of his career, both fighting for the number one spot at 135lbs.

The first round of the match began as a feel out round, both fighters throwing range finding jabs out, neither man looking to leave an opening. It was Beltran who was the aggressor, while Crawford used his lateral movement to avoid the ropes. In the following rounds, Crawford switched southpaw — a technique that has served him well in his fights — and had better success, particularly with his jab.

The first three rounds were all fairly close, the biggest moment coming in the third round, as Ray Beltran landed a powerful right cross on the jaw of Crawford. Seconds later, Crawford caught Beltran with a right hook to the temple as Beltran rushed in, the shot momentarily stunned ‘Sugar’ Ray. In the fifth round, Beltran recognized he was quickly falling behind on the scorecards and increased the intensity of his attack. Ray Beltran landed a couple of shots that made Crawford take note but overall it was the champion who landed at a more consistent basis.

Terence Crawford took over completely in the middle round and showed his skillful boxing ability, largely out pointing the tough veteran. The few shots that Beltran did land did not seem to faze the unbeaten Omaha native. Perhaps the only round of the fight that one could give to Ray Beltran was the ninth round in which he managed to close the distance and connected cleanly with a powerful left hook. That punch alone could have edged him the round.

Crawford didn’t allow Beltran to sway the tide in his favor for long and before long he was back at using his defense to avoid the attack of Ray Beltran and using his speed to land crisp counter shots. The eleventh and twelfth rounds saw Crawford step up the pace on a visibly tiring Beltran, landing frequently with hard shots to the head and body. Even though Crawford was way ahead on points, he clearly was trying to close the show and score a knockout for his fans.

His quest for the KO took a back seat to winning the fight when in the final 40 seconds of the bout Crawford was tagged with a good shot that had him fighting more cautiously to the final bell. The official score cards were 119-109, 119-109, and 120-108.

With the win, Terence Crawford picked up the Ring Magazine lightweight belt and put himself in the running for this years Fighter of the Year award. Crawford now looks to move up in weight to the light welterweight division to test himself against the very best the weight class has to offer.

The light welterweight division is stacked with talent, and with potential fights against Golden Boy’s stable of fighters, bouts with Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson are possible fights for him. Crawford has fought at the weight class before against Breidis Prescott and with his switch hitting style and speed he would be a tough fight for anyone at 140 lbs.

It will be very interesting to see where Terence Crawford goes from here as he has shown the potential to be successful at the weight and whether or not he decides to take on a contender like Brandon Rios or go after a champion, after this Saturday night he seems ready for anything at light welterweight.