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Crawford’s opponent selection had previously been whittled down to Diaz, Amir Imam, and Adrian Granados. According to Dan Rafael, HBO would not accept Imam and Granados was unavailable.
Crawford (30-0, 21 KO) had a damn good 2016, dominating division number-two Viktor Postol between beatdowns of Hank Lundy and John Molina Jr. He technically lost his latest fight with the long arm of the law, but in his defense, that was well outside his weight class.
Diaz (19-1, 9 KO) has bounced between super lightweight and welterweight in recent years, picking up wins over the aforementioned Granados and Sammy Vasquez. That 1 on his record could easily be a 0, as many scored his fight with Lamont Peterson in his favor.
It’s a quality matchup; I’ll certainly be tuning in if I can. Anyone think Diaz will be the one to finally push Crawford?