By Jake Donovan

Given his wiry frame and the year he’s enjoyed, there were two remaining questions for Terence Crawford ahead of his lightweight championship showdown with Raymundo Beltran.

Could he post a win to put an exclamation point on a breakout 2014 campaign? And could his wiry frame make the 135 lb. limit beyond this bout – win, lose, or draw?

Crawford emphatically answered the first question with a brilliant 12-round boxing clinic Saturday evening at CenturyLink Center in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. Following the World lineal lightweight championship winning effort, the unbeaten boxer offered a short-but-sweet verbal confirmation as to his future status.

“This is it,” Crawford told HBO’s Max Kellerman when asked if he’d ever again fight at lightweight.

It was one hell of an encore performance, as Crawford exits the division as the world’s best lightweight and without a close second. The next in line was supposed to be Beltran, who came in recognized by BoxingScene.com,

Transnational Boxing Ratings Board

and RingTV.com as the second-highest rated lightweight contender to the lineal championship.

Just because two boxers are rated number one and number two, doesn’t necessarily make them equals in the ring.

Crawford proved this to be true over the course of his landslide points win over Beltran, capping a year in which he has now beaten three top lightweights to stake his claim as a – if not THE - leading candidate for 2014 Fighter of the Year.

Saturday’s headliner was Crawford’s second straight hometown appearance. Pay-cable giant HBO had never before aired a boxing event from Omaha, Nebraska prior to this past June, when Crawford drew 10,943 rabid fans for his 9th round knockout of Yuriorkis Gamboa.

Saturday’s affair now pushes the live attendance total past 22,000 for his pair of homecomings. Not a single fan went home disappointed after either occasion, even if this bout lacked the sustained action that came in his war with Gamboa.

Action gradually picked up as the fight wore on. Crawford was rightfully cautious in the opening round, well aware that his challenger had knockout on the mind, and for good reason. Beltran has held his own with just about everyone he’s faced in the ring, but has failed to impress judges on more than one occasion.

The most recent example came last September, when the rugged Mexican banger traveled to Scotland in an effort to unseat then-lightweight titlist Ricky Burns. His 12-round performance was enough to convince viewers he did enough, but was forced to settle for a horribly scored draw, leaving many to hail him an uncrowned lightweight titlist.

Crawford was far more convincing in his own effort versus Burns on the road in Scotland this past March. The 12-round win should have been wider than the final scores suggested, but it was enough to jumpstart a year Crawford won’t ever forget.

The knockout win over Gamboa elevated Crawford’s likability factor, and also declared him a star at the box office and in viewership. The June affair serves as the highest rated Boxing After Dark telecast of 2014, at least without knowing how many tuned in for Saturday’s win.

Crawford stuck to boxing for the most part on this particular evening, effectively landing from conventional and southpaw stance. Beltran’s best moments came in spurts, connecting with a flush right hand to briefly stun Crawford in round three, working his way inside in round five, and scoring with straight rights and left hooks in the middle rounds, doing his best to make a fight out of it.

What was lacking was punch output. Crawford was the far busier fighter over the course of the night, and also the more effective of the two. Whereas Beltran can legitimately gripe about being robbed in the hometowns of several past opponents, this fight was decisive no matter the location.

The only thing missing was an explosive ending, though not entirely due to a lack of trying. Crawford stood his ground when necessary, and boxed at other points of the fight. As he picked apart Beltran over the second half of the fight, the packed house of 11,127 cheered wildly, with the hope of a knockout ending to complete their Thanksgiving weekend.

Given the combination of Beltran’s granite chin and dogged determination, Crawford instead settled for a tour-de-force performance.

“I felt like he was slowing down, but I didn't want to get careless like I did against Gamboa, I got caught with a stupid shot, " Crawford said, recalling his having to rally from an early deficit to eventually get rid of his unbeaten challenger in June. “I just stuck with what was working."

It’s worked from the moment Crawford turned pro in March ’08. Nearly seven years later, he remains perfect as his record improves to 25-0 (17KOs).

Beltran snaps a five-fight unbeaten streak, falling to 29-7-1 (17KOs).

With three big wins on the year, it will be tough for anyone plead a better case than Crawford for 2014 Fighter of the Year. Not much in the way of meaningful fights graces the final month of the year, save for prodigious talent Naoya Inoue leaping two divisions to challenge longtime 115 lb. titlist Omar Narvaez in late December.

While the Fighter of the Year debate will be settled in the coming weeks, the question that now lurks is what’s ahead for one of the bright rising stars of the sport.

Having gained 18 pounds from Friday’s weigh-in to the moments before Saturday’s lightweight championship, it was clear that another lightweight fight was not in Crawford’s future. The next logical step appears to be 140 lb., unless he decides to advance straight to welterweight.

For the moment, he serves as the newly crowned World lightweight champion. Beyond a declared move up the scales, the unbeaten 27-year old refuses to tip his hand.

“I don't call out fighters,” Crawford insisted when asked who might be in his future. The question was posed with the awareness that reigning welterweight titlist and worldwide superstar Manny Pacquiao is eyeing a move back to the 140 lb. division.

Not even the thought of landing the most lucrative option that his promoter Top Rank has to offer was enough to elicit a firm response. 

“I don't look at any fighter more than any other,” Crawford said. “I let my team handle that and we go from there.”

Wherever Terence Crawford goes next, there stands a good chance he’ll be carrying a Fighter of the Year plaque in tow.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox