By Allan Fox:
#1 WBO Raymundo Beltran will be challenging WBO lightweight champion Terence Crawford on November 29th on HBO from Omaha, Nebraska. Despite being only a contender in this fight, Betran believes that he’s a champion because of his fight against former WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns last year in September.
The judges scored the fight as a 12 round draw even though Beltran dominated the last 11 rounds of the fight and even knocked Burns down. It was arguably a robbery and it was a definite setback to Beltran’s career, especially after the World Boxing Organization ordered Burns to fight Crawford instead of him afterwards.
Beltran will get a shot at capturing what he believes should be his title next month against Crawford and he wants to make sure that the judges don’t take away his victory again.
“Crawford has shown to be a talented fighter, someone I respect,” said Beltran via RingTV.com. “But I see this fight as an opportunity for me to achieve the recognition in the boxing world and the public’s eye. This fight is Champion vs. Champion. It’s not about the belts. It’s about us. Crawford is talented, has skill, but I have the ability to adapt and will be ready for what he brings. The situation against Burns made me stronger.”
Beltran is going to need to probably knock Crawford out if he wants to win this fight because the chances are high that Crawford will outbox Beltran in this fight due to his superior boxing skills. But Beltran definitely has a chance of winning this fight if he can put enough pressure on Crawford and look to hurt him with his left hooks.
Crawford has excellent defensive skills, but he’s still someone who can be hit as we saw recently in his fight against Yuriorkis Gamboa, and in his fight against Burns last year. Both guys were able to hit Crawford when they put a lot of pressure on him.
Beltran can’t afford to get caught in a boxing match where he’s stuck on the outside and getting picked apart by Crawford. He’s got to take the fight to the inside and force Crawford to fight in close, because that’s the one area where Crawford isn’t highly skilled. He’s got a weakness in that one area of his career.
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