Undefeated World Junior Welterweight Champion and top pound for pound fighter TERENCE "Bud" CRAWFORD (30-0, 21 KOs), of Omaha, Neb., will make his 2017 debut, This Saturday! May 20, at the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden. This will also be his debut headlining in the big room -- a testament both to his talent and his growing popularity. Crawford will be defending his unified World Boxing Organization (WBO) / World Boxing Council (WBC) / Ring magazine titles against former Olympic gold medalist and top-rated contender FÉLIX DÍAZ (19-1, 9 KOs), of Brooklyn by way of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in a marquee all-action fight. It will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing®, beginning at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT.
Crawford, Díaz, the Pride of Newark and 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist SHAKUR STEVENSON, world-rated lightweight contenders RAY "Sugar" BELTRAN and JONATHAN "The Last Inca" MAICELO hosted a Final Press Conference at Madison Square Garden. Here is what some of the fighters had to say:
FÉLIX DÍAZ
"I'm up for this challenge. I really believe this will be a war on Saturday night. I'm going to have massive support from my fellow Dominicans. I have a great chance of winning this fight. I see a lot of weaknesses in his game that I know I can take advantage of. He is one of the best, but I have fought at welterweights and he hasn't. I believe I have the power to hurt him."
JONATHAN MAICELO
"The Garden will feel like Peru to me on Saturday night. I have a lot of Peruvian fans coming to the fight to root for me. With a world title shot at stock I'm going to give it everything I've got on Saturday night."
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The HBO telecast will open with Beltran (32-7-1, 20 KOs), of Phoenix, AZ by way of Los Mochis, Mexico, and Maicelo (25-2, 12 KOs), of North Bergen, New Jersey by way of Callao, Peru, going mano a mano in a high-stakes battle of world-rated lightweight contenders. Sanctioned by the International Boxing Federation (IBF) as a world lightweight title elimination bout, the winner of the 12-round rumble will also lay claim to the vacant World Boxing Association (WBA) International and the NABF and NABO lightweight titles, currently held by Beltran. The world championship event will also feature the Pride of Newark and 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist SHAKUR STEVENSON (1-0) on the non-televised undercard. All the non-HBO televised undercard bouts will be streamed live exclusively via www.toprank.tv.
Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with DiBella Entertainment, Tecate and Madison Square Garden, remaining tickets to the Crawford vs. Díaz world championship event are priced at $250, $150, $100, $75, $50 and $35. They can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008), and online at www.ticketmaster.com and www.thegarden.com.
For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo Facebook.com/dibellaentertainment, https://www.facebook.com/felixmanuel.diazguzman, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014790258442 or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, www.twitter.com/LouDiBella, www.twitter.com/felixmldiaz or twitter.com/hboboxing. Use the Hashtag #CrawfordDiaz to join the conversation on Twitter.