by Cliff Rold

For the first time since Wallace Smith ended the third and final reign of Jimmy Carter in 1955, a “Bud” is the Lightweight Champion of the World.

That’s the capital letters version.  Terence Crawford, already the WBO flag bearer, isn’t just a beltholder.

History’s Lightweight title has remained vacant since Juan Manuel Marquez left the division.  In a rare confluence, ESPN, TBRB, Ring Magazine, and even BoxRec all lined up on the same 1-2 contender punch.  When the year began, Terence Crawford was an interesting new contender who’d appeared in less than memorable fare on HBO.

As 2014 closes, he’s gone on the road to win his first belt and shown serious fire in his first two nights entering to defend.  Now that he’s the man at Lightweight, Crawford won’t be sticking around.

140 is calling.

It’s not getting easier from here.        

Let’s go the report card.

Grades

Pre-Fight: Speed – Crawford A-; Beltran B+/Post: Same

Pre-Fight: Power – Crawford B+; Beltran B/Post: Same

Pre-Fight: Defense – Crawford B+; Beltran B/Post: A-; B

Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Crawford A; Beltran B+/Post: Same

Ray Beltran had a hot hand coming into the fight with Crawford.  In spots, he showed why.  His hand speed can be deceptive and he’s harder to catch clean than he looks.  The problem on Saturday is Crawford was too quick for it to matter, hand and foot, and he caught him clean enough.

Switching seamlessly from southpaw to orthodox and back, Crawford displayed how skill doesn’t have to be dull.  The idea of hit and don’t get hit starts with hitting.  Boxing is a hurt game.  If you’re not hitting the other guy, it’s sort of missing the point.

Crawford has excellent defense, but uses it in conjunction with his offense in a way that is fun to watch.  In both his win over Gamboa and now Beltran, he also flashed a commendable instinct to go for the finish.  He could have coasted late on Saturday.  Instead, he was backing Beltran up in spots and looking for something nasty.

Also notable, on the occasions where Beltran clipped Crawford, Crawford fired back.  There were minimal clinches in the fight.

Now the question is what happens when Crawford moves up?

135 lbs. is one of boxing’s classic divisions.  It hasn’t been a classic in recent vintage.  One would have to go back to at least the years between Pernell Whitaker’s exit from Lightweight and Oscar De La Hoya’s emergence to find as dry a period.  It’s not a deep field right now.

Jr. Welterweight is.  Is it deep enough on the Crawford side of the bracket?  This sport doesn’t exist in a place where the matches line up organically.  Most of the best at Jr. Welterweight are tied to Al Haymon and thus Showtime.  Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthysse, and Lamont Peterson are probably out of reach.

That leaves names like Ruslan Provodnikov, Chris Algieri, Jessie Vargas, and Viktor Postol as immediate possibilities.  They aren’t the brass ring.  The match Crawford can start dreaming about is Manny Pacquiao.  He might not be in position for that fight now.  With a couple key wins in 2015, he might have that position by the end of the year. 

And in late 2015 or early 2016, Crawford-Pacquiao may emerge as a fight everyone wants to see.

Report Card Picks 2014: 57-24

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com