Ray Beltran vs. Jonathan Maicelo to serve as Crawford-Diaz co-feature

Terence Crawford’s May 20th title defense against Felix Diaz now has a co-main event: an IBF lightweight eliminator between #3 Ray Beltran and #7 Jonathan Maicelo, the winner of which will be in line to face the winner of Robert Easter Jr. vs. Denis Shafikov. Top Rank announced the bout via press release earlier today.

Beltran (32-7-1, 20 KO) has won three straight by knockout since missing weight against Takahiro Ao and subsequently failing a drug test, including a thrashing of prospect Mason Menard in December. Though long in the tooth at 35, he remains a dangerous opponent for most of the division.

Maicelo (25-2, 12 KO), who’d lost badly to Darleys Perez in his only world title bid, came out of nowhere to down young gun Jose Felix Jr. in February, dropping him five times en route to a decision win. He’ll be the underdog here, but it’s good to see a designated victim flip the script and get rewarded for it.

The HBO card will also feature Shakur Stevenson against Carlos Gaston Suarez.