By Ryan Burton
Caesar's Palace, LAS VEGAS, NV - Newly crowned WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford (33-0) was in town to accept his award from the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame for their 2018 Fighter of the Year. Previous winners include Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Badou Jack.
The 30-year-old Crawford won the award with his 9th round knockout out of Jeff Horn in June to capture his welterweight title and in the process become a three-division champion.
"It feels great out here. I like the energy and I am blessed to be the Fighter of the Year for the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame," Crawford told BoxingScene.com.
Crawford fought on many undercards in Las Vegas as he worked his way up from prospect to contender to champion. The two biggest fights of his career in Nevada were his unanimous decision victory over Viktor Postol in 2016 in which he unified the WBO and WBC super lightweight titles and the aforementioned knockout of Horn.
It was hard for Crawford to pick which moment was his favorite in the Silver State.
"It had to be the Postol fight. That was the fight a lot of people said I wasn't going to win. The whole aspect of the fight - I just loved that fight. I think the Jeff Horn fight was up there too though," Crawford explained.
As for what is next, Crawford is slated to return to the ring on October 13th on ESPN. His opponent hasn't been finalized but unbeaten contender Jose Benavidez Jr. is the leading candidate.
"That is in the works right now. We have to get it signed and sealed to be able to say for sure who we are fighting," said Crawford.
"He is alright but we are going to see how good he is come fight night. That is all I will say."
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