Terence Crawford knew he could always rely on his hometown fans to have his back.
The unbeaten three-division titlist and pound-for-pound entrant returns home for the first time in more than four years in a WBO welterweight title defense versus David Avanesyan. The response has been overwhelming, with a sellout crowd in the range of 17,000 expected for Saturday’s BLK Prime Pay-Per-View/PPV.com main event at CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
“It feels good. It lets me know that my city stands behind and supports me,” Crawford told BoxingScene.com. “This one is the homecoming fight. Everyone is excited. People are here at home. It’s close to Christmas time so they’re not traveling. It was the perfect time to come back home.”
The tradition of defending and winning titles at home began in a ninth-round knockout of Yuriorkis Gamboa in their June 2014 battle of unbeatens. Saturday night will mark the sixth fight in this venue for Crawford (38-0, 29KOs), all in title fights and which have produced a big turnout.
His previous homecoming came in October 2018, when an announced crowd of 13,323 packed the CHI Health Center for Crawford’s twelfth-round knockout of unbeaten Jose Benavidez Jr. It was the first defense of his welterweight title reign, four months after winning the belt in a ninth-round knockout of Jeff Horn in Las Vegas.
Crawford will attempt his sixth welterweight title fight, while seeking his seventeenth win in as many title fights spanning three weight divisions. It came together after talks imploded for a highly anticipated undisputed welterweight championship clash with unified WBA/WBC/IBF titlist Errol Spence Jr. (28-0, 22KOs) in mid-October. The superfight was in discussion for months, only for Crawford to ultimately head in a different direction—one that ended in familiar surroundings and the one place he knew he could count on for support.
“This one is different,” insisted Crawford. “It’s going to be our biggest one yet and it really means a lot that everyone is getting behind us. It definitely needs to be a special occasion. I take a lot out of my earning potential to fight at home but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make so they can see a live championship fight here in Omaha.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox