By Victor Salazar 

New York, NY - With Floyd Mayweather Jr. announcing his retirement last September, and Manny Pacquiao potentially having his last fight in April, there is a rapid race to create the next superstar fighter in the United States.

Crawford has established himself as a big draw in his home market of Omaha, Nebraska. Last month he took his talents to the East Coast and dispatched Hank Lundy in five rounds in front of a sold out Theatre at Madison Square Garden.

At the moment, WBC middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (46-1-1, 32KOs) is the biggest name and has as huge following among the Mexican fight fans.

Behind Canelo would have to be fighters like Crawford and IBO/WBA/IBF middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (34-0, 31KOs).

HBO analyst Max Kellerman gave his thoughts regarding the ongoing race to establish a superstar on American soil.

“Crawford’s is coming into his own on the draw level,” Kellerman told BoxingScene.com. “But in the US after Canelo, the biggest star? A lot of people know and love Triple G, Gennady Golovkin - but hardcores feel Triple G needs to fight someone and they say 'Chocolatito' Roman Gonzalez is like a better version of GGG.”

In regards to Golovkin’s star power, Kellerman feels that his pay-per-view debut, last year against David Lemiuex, is right around where the numbers were expected to be.

He believes Golovkin can become a bigger pay-per-view draw, win or lose, if he secures a fight with Canelo for the fall. The World Boxing Council has ordered them to face each other.

“Golovkin sold 150,000 pay-per-views. I thought 150,000 buys is right in the range where he was supposed to be. Marvin Hagler couldn’t break through until another name fighter fought him," Kellerman explained.

"GGG, if he fights Canelo, will be a much stronger pay-per-view fight A-side even if he loses because of the popularity of Canelo. Floyd Mayweather’s first pay-per-view fight was Arturo Gatti, who was way more popular than Lemieux was.”