By Jeff Aranow: Felix Diaz (19-1, 9 KOs) will be challenging WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Terence “Bud” Crawford (30-0, 21 KOs) on May 20 on HBO Championship Boxing at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. This is the fight that many fans wanted to see. Crawford’s promoters at Top Rank were interested in matching him against Amir Imam or Adrian Granados. Fortunately for the boxing fans, Diaz will be the one facing Crawford on May 20.
By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has two guys – Felix Diaz and Adrian Granados – that he’s considering for his fighter WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Terence Crawford’s May 20th title defense at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Arum was hoping to get #2 WBC contender Amir Imam for Crawford’s next fight, but he’s had problems getting in touch with his promoter Don King.
By Chris Williams: Terence Crawford’s next opponent for his May 20th fight is down to 3 candidates, according his promoter Bob Arum. The names are as follows: Amir Imam, Adrian Granados and Felix Diaz. Arum mentioned Imam’s name first in listing the three candidates, which could be a hint that he’s going to select him for Crawford’s May 20 fight. What’s bad about the 26-year-old Imam is he was knocked out in 8 rounds by Granados. Imam has fought once since then in beating journeyman Wildredo Acuna by a 3rd round knockout last July.
By Jim Dower: WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford is stills scheduled to fight on May 20 on HBO at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. However, he’s not sure who his opponent will be for that date. The negotiations are still taking place with Felix Diaz, but it remains to be seen if that fight will take place. Light welterweight Adrian Granados was mentioned as a possibility for Crawford’s May 20th fight. That would be an odd move if Granados gets the fight with Crawford because he was beaten recently by Adrien Broner in a grueling 12 round decision fight on February 18. It would be tough on Granados to get back inside the ring to fight Crawford on May 20. That would give him just 3 months of rest between the Broner and Crawford fight.
By Chris Williams: WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford will be defending his titles next on May 20th possibly against welterweight Felix Diaz (19-1, 9 KOs) in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. Diaz and Antonio Orozco (25-0, 16 KOs) are in the running for Crawford’s next fight.
Of those two, Diaz is the favorite to get the fight Orozco might be moving up to welterweight after he failed recently to make weight for a fight against Fidel Maldonado Jr.
Dominican Felix Diaz (19-1, 9 KOs) ended a successful 2016 as a world ranked junior welterweight contender with another two impressive victories added to his ledger. He is determined to continue that momentum this year by facing the biggest challenges. The top name on his hit list remains WBC/WBO junior welterweight world champion Terence Crawford.
“I spent half of last year calling out Crawford. He went the easy route, facing John Molina, who entered their December title fight three pounds above the weight limit and was way overmatched. Now, it is time for Crawford to face a real challenge,” said Diaz.
By Eric Baldwin: #13 WBO fringe welterweight contender Felix Diaz (18-1, 8 KOs) has been approved by HBO as an opponent for WBC/WBC 140lb champion Terence “Bud” Crawford (29-0, 20 KOs) to fight on their network for his next fight on December 10 in Omaha, Nebraska. Crawford was able to take the December 10 date on HBO after IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin pulled off the date due to him being unable to negotiate a fight against Daniel Jacobs in time to fight in that month.
Promoter Lou Dibella is interested in making the fight between Diaz and the Top Rank promoted 29-year-old Crawford if there’s interest from them. Besides Diaz, Top Rank is reportedly interested in possibly matching Crawford against unbeaten #1 WBC Antonio Orozco (25-0, 16 KOs) or IBF World light welterweight champion Eduard Troyanovsky (25-0, 22 KOs). Both fighters are flawed, and very beatable despite their unbeaten records.
There aren’t many fighters these days calling out undefeated two-division world champion Terence Crawford, one of boxing’s pound-for-pound best. Felix Diaz is, though. This is a fight that should be made.
Diaz (18-1, 8KO’s), the only boxer to win an Olympic gold medal for the Dominican Republic, is coming off a career-changing performance back in July. He dominated highly regarded, undefeated welterweight contender Sammy Vasquez, though he is a true super lightweight. Following his victory over Vasquez, Diaz signed with promoter Lou DiBella, with the goal of fighting the biggest names in the sport, and Crawford is at the very top of his list.
(Photo Credit: Ryan Hafey/Jordan Hardy/Premier Boxing Champions) By Allan Fox: 2008 Olympic gold medalist Felix Diaz (18-1, 8 KOs) handed welterweight contender Sammy Vasquez (21-1, 15 KOs) his first loss of his career on Saturday night in beating him by a narrow 10 round unanimous decision at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. The judges’ scored the fight 96-93, 95-94 and 95-94.
By Allan Fox: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder will be getting the lion’s shape of the money for Saturday’s fight card at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. Wilder’s purse for his title defense against 35-year-old Chris Arreola (36-4-1, 31 KOs) will be $1.4 million. Arreola will be getting just $150,000, which is not much for a challenger at the heavyweight level.
You can make an argument that Wilder should be getting more than $1.4M for his fights at this point in his career. When you see fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao getting huge paydays for their fights, Wilder should be getting big money too. Unfortunately, the heavyweight division isn’t a popular one in the United States.