Crawford to be back on HBO on November 29th; probably against Beltran

After flooring Yuriorkis Gamboa four times en route to a TKO victory in the second most watched boxing match this year, Terence Crawford (24-0, 17 KOs) is slated to return to his hometown, Omaha, Nebraska and HBO to make his second defense of the WBO lightweight title on November 29th. Crawford's promoter Bob Arum is trying to line up Raymundo Beltran (29-6-1, 17 KOs) as the opponent.

Crawford lifted the WBO lightweight belt from Ricky Burns (36-4-1, 11 KOs) via unanimous decision in March. Prior to losing the belt to Crawford, Burns fought Beltran and kept the belt via controversial split draw. During their bout last September, referee Phil Edwards never issued a warning for Burns' excessive holding of Beltran. Despite the incessant holding, Beltran broke Burns' jaw and knocked Burns down in the 8th round only to be robbed by the judges who scored the fight 114-114 and 115-112 for Burns. The WBO didn't order a rematch and Crawford lifted the belt from Burns in Burns' next fight.

Even though he'll be the underdog and fighting in Crawford's hometown, it's nice to see that Beltran will probably get another shot at the title that he should have been awarded last September.