Terence Crawford: “I’m the champ now and when me and Beltran fight on the 29th it’s going to show who the real champion is.”

Terence Crawford has established himself as one of the rising stars of the sport and with his 2014 campaign in the ring nearing a close, he has positioned himself as a strong candidate for fighter of the year. Crawford has fought two times this year, winning the WBO lightweight title against Ricky Burns and then beating Yuriorkis Gamboa in a thrilling fight. A win in his upcoming bout at the end of the month against mandatory challenger Raymundo Beltran could give him an edge in the FOTY race.

In my “On The Ropes” interview with Terence Crawford, I get his thoughts on his upcoming November 29th title defense, and his thoughts on his opponent Raymundo Beltran. Terence also talks about his rise up in the weight class and the two biggest fights of his career against Burns and Gamboa. Additionally Crawford gives his views on boxing stars Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Here is what Terence Crawford had to say.

Jenna J: You have a very big fight coming up at the end of November, you will be taking on Raymundo Beltran. What do you think about the fight?

Terence Crawford: It’s gonna be a tough fight. He’s a veteran in the game, he’s very crafty, very tough and he’s gonna come to fight.

Jenna J: This will be your second straight fight in your hometown. How do you feel about reviving boxing in Omaha?

Terence Crawford: I feel like I uplifted boxing a lot. More people are interested in coming to the fight, a lot more people are willing to even watch boxing. Some people be like, “I ain’t watch boxing in years. Since you fought, I’ve been keeping up to date with you and your career in boxing.” I kind of brought it back to life.

Jenna J: Your first event did extremely well and now you’re going back to back. Is this something you hope to continue with your career, constantly fighting in Omaha?

Terence Crawford: Yeah most definitely. I want to make that a spot where I can fight one or two times a year at, get my fans something that they’ve been missing.

Jenna J: Let’s talk about your career, you burst into the scene in a surprising way, you decided to move up in weight and take on Breidis Prescott whose opponent fell out. How hard was it for you to choose to do that?

Terence Crawford: It wasn’t hard at all being that the style that he had and the style that I’d pose, I felt confident. I was already in shape, I was actually training to fight on that same card — I was supposed to fight the fight before him — so I was confident.

Jenna J: In that fight you were the underdog and you overcame it there. What did it mean for you to get that win?

Terence Crawford: Well, to me I just used it as a stepping stone. It didn’t really mean too much besides putting me at a spot where I needed to be in my career but I wanted more than just a win over Breidis Prescott.

Jenna J: Ever since that fight you’re level of competition has gone higher and higher. You ended up having to go all the way over to Scotland to take on Ricky burns to challenge for his title. Were you nervous going over to his country?

Terence Crawford: Oh not at all. Like I always say, he was the champion at the time and I felt like him being the champion, if he wanted to defend his title at home, he has the right to do that because he’s the champion, why should the champion have to go to somebody else’s country to fight them when he’s the champion? I felt that it was the right thing to do.

Jenna J: Early in that fight you fought southpaw a lot and a lot of people questioned your decision to do that but it ended up working for you. Why did you choose to go that route?

Terence Crawford: I don’t know, it’s just something that I do to confuse the opponent and get a different look on some cases in the ring.

Jenna J: You did the same thing in your last fight with Yuriorkis Gamboa, why did it work so well in that fight?

Terence Crawford: Gamboa has fast feet and I felt like I could time him better out of the southpaw stance.

Jenna J: You were down on the scorecards early but you came back and eventually knocked Gamboa out. How do you feel about that fight?

Terence Crawford: I see a lot of mistakes that I was doing. I gave myself a B, but I got the job done and that’s all that matters.

Jenna J: You’ve established yourself as the best fighter in the weight class. If you beat Beltran, is there any chance that you may move up in weight to the stacked 140lb division?

Terence Crawford: Yeah this is gonna be my last fight at 135lbs, my plan is to move up to 140 and expand my horizons there.

Jenna J: Now there are no more boundaries, Top Rank and Golden Boy are working with each other. Would you want to go right up and fight the champion, Danny Garcia?

Terence Crawford: If that fight presents itself then yeah. I’m willing and up for any challenge.

Jenna J: What do you think about the other champions of the weight class? What do you think about 140 in general?

Terence Crawford: It’s a tough weight class, there’s a lot of talent there being that it’s a stacked weight class. I’m just ready to get in there and mingle.

Jenna J: I want to talk with you about the current boxing landscape with you. Floyd Mayweather is considered to be the best in the game but people are questioning who he’s fighting now. From your perspective, who would you like to see Floyd fight?

Terence Crawford: I would really like to see Floyd fight Amir Khan or Pacquiao, just so he could solidify his greatness and shut a lot of people up that doubt him. I think the Amir Khan fight would be a tougher fight for him than Pacquiao being that the size that Amir Khan brings to the table and the height and the speed. I think Floyd can manage to outthink both of them.

Jenna J: A lot of people agree with you in that Khan would be a more difficult test for Floyd than Pacquiao, but then other people look at Amir’s loses and think Floyd should fight Pacquiao instead. Do you think he should get more credit for beating Khan over Pacquiao?

Terence Crawford: Yeah there’s gonna be critics in whatever you do, it doesn’t matter who you beat, it doesn’t matter how good they are, there’s always gonna be somebody that doesn’t give you the credit that you deserve. Just like when I beat Gamboa, everybody said, “Oh he’s not a 135lb’er and Crawford was too big,” but before the fight everybody was saying he was gonna beat me, “He’s got more experience, he’s a three time champion.”

Jenna J: A week before you step in the ring, Manny Pacquiao will be fighting Chris Algieri. Some people are saying it’s gonna be an easy fight, what do you think?

Terence Crawford: I think Algieri is gonna give Manny problems early in the fight until Manny figures him out, then I think it’s gonna go to the decision.

Jenna J: Let’s go back to the Ray Beltran fight. Stylistically, what kind of approach are you gonna take against him? Are we gonna see lefty Crawford or orthodox?

Terence Crawford: I never know. You never know until you get into the ring. You might think you’re gonna do one thing and then you get in the fight and that one thing that you thought you were gonna do, you gotta switch it up. You never know until you get in the ring.

Jenna J: Did you watch Beltran’s fight with Ricky Burns? If you did, what did you think of it?

Terence Crawford: Yeah I thought he won, hands down. I thought he won the fight, I thought they cheated him and he deserved to be the champion at that particular time.

Jenna J: Do you feel this fight will bring absolute clarity as to who the WBO champion is?

Terence Crawford: Yeah, some people still look at him as he won the fight, I look at him as he won the fight (with Ricky Burns). I’m the champ now and when we fight on the 29th it’s going to show who the real champion is.