By Jake Donovan

What a difference a year makes. 

Prior to his lightweight title fight versus Ricky Burns, Terence Crawford was viewed as a rising talent but the jury was still out on whether or not he’d soon run with the sport’s elite. A trio of HBO-televised wins put the unbeaten boxer on the map, although the last of the lot – a disinteresting 10-round decision win over Andrey Klimov – last October hardly resonated with the boxing public. 

Fast forward to Thanksgiving weekend 2014, and the fighting pride of Omaha, Nebraska has transformed into a major draw in his hometown – where he’d never previously fought as a pro – and on HBO. He has a belt in tow, came up aces in one of the best fights of the year, and is now one win away from making a strong case for consideration as 2014’s Fighter of the Year. 

Of course, a difficult task still awaits Crawford, who faces tough-as-nails Raymundo Beltran this weekend at home in Omaha, Nebraska. The winner of the scheduled 12-round clash – which airs live on HBO (Saturday, 10:00 p.m. ET) - will gain recognition by BoxingScene.com as the World lineal lightweight champion, a crown that has been unclaimed since Juan Manuel Marquez officially severed all ties from the lightweight division in 2012. 

A win by Crawford will mean so much more. 

The year began in grand style, though oddly enough in his only ring appearance over the past two years to have not aired live on HBO. Boldly marching into Ricky Burns’ hometown of Glasgow, Scotland, Crawford (24-0, 17KOs) came up aces in his first major title fight and first pro fight outside of the United States.  

Not even the most extreme case of hometown favoritism could have rescued Burns – many argue that card was cashed in six months prior. Just ask Beltran, who was forced to settle for a highly questionable draw in a fight nearly everyone believed should have gone his way.

Or you can ask Crawford himself. 

“Beltran feels I have something – a world title belt – that belongs to him. He thought he beat Ricky Burns and I thought Beltran won too,” Crawford says of the Sept. ’13 lightweight title clash, which also took place in Glasgow. “But he didn’t and I did.”

The fate suffered by Beltran in last year’s bout has fans still claiming him as the uncrowned champion, and perhaps enough to have earned a second title shot. His 2014 ring campaign hasn’t helped or hurt his cause, as a points win over Arash Usmanee – a late sub for former 130 lb. titlist Roman Martinez - in April was just another fight on its own merit, and even more forgettable as undercard filler to Manny Pacquiao’s rematch win over Tim Bradley.

Crawford’s year has been unforgettable. Three months following the career-best win over Burns came a feat that topped his championship winning effort. 

It was oh so fitting that Crawford and Yuriorkis Gamboa both carried the same exact record (23-0, 16KOs) heading into their June clash that was viewed by many as a 50/50 affair. 

Crawford had all of the momentum in addition to hometown advantage, the bout marking the first major title fight in Omaha in more than 40 years. The city of Omaha was also playing host to an HBO-televised event for the first time ever. 

Gamboa hadn’t fought in more than a year and was still a question mark in regards to the top tier of the lightweight division, his best work having come at featherweight and below. Still, his natural talent and rich amateur background was enough to lead some experts to believe that he stood a favorable chance of scoring a title in a third weight class.

The first few rounds of their HBO Boxing After Dark headliner supported that theory, at least among those who put their faith in Gamboa delivering a complete performance. Everyone else waited around for the Cuban boxer to fade and for Crawford to take over. That moment came in round five, and the local favorite was a runaway freight train rolling downhill from that point onward.

It took four knockdowns to finally evaporate Gamboa, including two in the decisive ninth round of what many still consider one of the best fights of 2014.  The nine-round war still ranks as HBO’s highest rated Boxing After Dark telecast on the year, with the combination of 1.286 million viewers tuning in and 10,943 in attendance transforming Crawford from a rising talent to a bonafide boxing star. 

The pair of wins on the year also put him in the hunt for Fighter of the Year honors. In a year where there aren’t very many leading candidates, the unbeaten Midwestern boxer has the golden opportunity right in front of him on Saturday evening.

A win will make Crawford the recognized lineal lightweight champion of the world, at least for however long he chooses to hang around the division.

No matter what weight class he chooses beyond Saturday, a win adding to the year he already enjoyed will also make him the standard bearer to which all other 2014 Fighter of the Year candidates are judged.

Such honors will serve as a remarkable turnaround in the court of public opinion. Less than 14 months ago, fans wondered if the entertainment level could eventually match the talent. Wins over Burns and Gamboa have emphatically fulfilled that request. 

One more win on Saturday night should leave him as the year’s most celebrated boxer. 

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