By Keith Idec

Promoters Bob Arum and Lou DiBella told BoxingScene.com on Wednesday that they have come to an agreement for Terence Crawford to fight Felix Diaz on May 20 in Newark, New Jersey.

Crawford (30-0, 21 KOs), of Omaha, Nebraska, will defend his WBC and WBO world super lightweight titles against the Dominican Republic’s Diaz (19-1, 9 KOs) in the main event of an HBO doubleheader from Prudential Center.

“We reached an agreement in principle,” DiBella said. “There are no business terms open. We’re just waiting for contracts to get signed.”

Arum also considered Amir Imam (19-1, 16 KOs), the mandatory challenger for Crawford’s WBC 140-pound title. Once Arum couldn’t make progress in recent negotiations with Don King, Imam’s promoter, his company, Top Rank Inc., turned its attention toward finalizing a Crawford-Diaz fight.

“Lou is correct that we have sent a signed agreement to Diaz, but we won’t announce the fight until we get it back,” Arum said. “I’m not saying what Lou is saying is wrong. I’m just saying that we’re not gonna announce anything until we get a signed contract back from the Diaz people. As I understand it, there are no open issues.”

Assuming those signed contracts are returned, Diaz, a gold medalist at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, will get the most meaningful fight of his seven-year pro career against Crawford.

“I’m thrilled that Felix is getting this opportunity,” DiBella said, “and I think it’s a fight he can win.”

The 33-year-old Diaz’s lone loss was a 12-round, majority-decision defeat to recently crowned WBA world welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (35-3-1, 17 KOs) in October 2015 in Fairfax, Virginia. The 29-year-old Crawford generally is considered one of the top 10 boxers, pound-for-pound, in the world.

“It’s a real fight,” Arum said. “Nobody wants to see walkovers. Crawford wants to fight the best and toughest fights that he can make. And for various reasons, a lot of people in the press thought that Diaz would be just that – the best and toughest fight. And so that led us to select Diaz as the opponent.”

HBO’s doubleheader May 20 also is expected to include a bout between lightweight contenders Ray Beltran (32-7-1, 20 KOs, 1 NC) and Jonathan Maicelo (25-2, 12 KOs, 1 NC). Newark native Shakur Stevenson, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist who’ll make his pro debut April 22 in Carson, California, also is expected to fight on the non-televised portion of the Crawford-Diaz undercard.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.