By Ryan Burton
WBO lightweight champion Terence Crawford was in Las Vegas this past weekend for the Manny Pacquiao-Tim Bradley pay-per-view mega event at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. A ceremony was held by Top Rank and the WBO to give Crawford the belt that he won in March when he dethroned Ricky Burns.
Crawford is a former sparring partner of two-division champion Tim Bradley and also wanted to support his friend in his rematch against Pacquiao. In his opinion, Bradley tried too hard to load up on his punches and spent too much time looking for the knockout.
"I think that he was loading up on his punches too much. When he was boxing him early on he was having success. He just loaded up too much," said Crawford.
The Omaha, Neb. native also had his eye on Ray Beltran's victory over Arash Usmanee that served as the evening's co-feature fight. Beltran is now Crawford's mandatory challenger and will likely be his next opponent.
"I thought Beltran fought a good fight. He did what he had to do to win. He got the job done and won an unanimous decision," Crawford stated.
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum announced on Thursday that Crawford's return to the ring would take place this summer and that it would be a homecoming fight. He mentioned that a casino venue in Council Bluffs, Iowa would likely host the fight.
Council Bluffs sits on the east bank of the Missouri river, a short driver from Crawford's hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. Crawford said that fighting close to home is a dream come true.
"It would be real big to fight (close to Omaha). That is what all of the fans back home have been hoping for. I hope everybody comes out to Omaha to support your boy," Crawford told BoxingScene.com.
Send questions or comments to ringsidewriter@gmail.com . You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ringsidewriter