Terence Crawford’s former opponent admitted ‘boxing is corrupt’ when questioning his record

On this day in 2014, Terence Crawford produced a performance that backed up the hype.

Crawford’s win over Canelo Alvarez in September saw him earn the undisputed super middleweight titles and make a serious argument that he’s the current pound-for-pound king.

Some have believed that this was the case for some time and that ‘Bud’ only needed the opportunity to fight more big names so that he could prove it.

Crawford’s stock has risen with wins over the likes of Shawn Porter and Errol Spence Jr., but there were still some who had doubts over a decade ago.

• THROWBACK: Canelo Alvarez revealed that a comment from ‘inspirational’ UFC 323 star gave him goosebumps

Terence Crawford dominated Ray Beltran after he questioned the hype surrounding ‘Bud’

Before Terence Crawford called to face Manny Pacquiao after beating Dierry Jean, he capped off his run in the lightweight division on this day in 2014.

A perfect record of 24-0 didn’t mean that his opponent, Ray Beltran, was ready to get fully on board the hype train that was starting to build around the defending WBO champion.

In an interview with Boxing News ahead of their fight, the challenger admitted that while Crawford was a good fighter, he wasn’t the best in the lightweight division at the time.

Both men shared a common opponent in Ricky Burns, who ‘Bud’ had won the WBO belt from after the Scotsman went to a draw with Beltran.

In the interview, Beltran claimed that “we all know boxing is corrupt” when he spoke about the result of his clash with Burns and how he’d be once again fighting for a title in his opponent’s back yard.

When comparing his fight with Burns to Crawford’s win, the Mexican added, “He [Crawford] has his business and his team behind him – they wouldn’t allow him to get robbed.

“Me, I’m just by myself,” Beltran continued. “They could make sure he got a fair shake; no-one did that for me. But again, I’m not complaining. I don’t need anyone apart from my team to help me win.”

Their clash at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska resulted in a clinic from Crawford, with two judges scoring 11 rounds in his favor while the other gave him all 12.

• LATEST NEWS: Jake Paul welcomes heavyweights who could fight Oleksandr Usyk next into his Anthony Joshua fight camp

Terence Crawford earned his first fighter of the year awards after beating Ray Beltran

By beating Ray Beltran in a near shutout win, Terence Crawford proved himself to be the best in the lightweight division before he made the call to move up.

He’s continued this winning streak all the way to 2025, where many believe that his win over Canelo Alvarez after jumping up two weight classes makes him the undeniable fighter of the year.

In fact, it was his win over Beltran in 2014 that sealed his first fighter of the year awards, with Crawford receiving this praise from the likes of ESPN and the Boxing Writers Association of America.

The Ring gave their award to Sergey Kovalev, who defeated Cedric Agnew, Blake Caparello, and Bernard Hopkins, ended the year as the WBO, WBA, and IBF light heavyweight champion.