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Bob Arum: Terence Crawford-Yuriorkis Gamboa on June 28 in Omaha

Fighters Network
06
May
Terence Crawford (right) takes it to Ricky Burns during their WBO lightweight title bout on March 1 in Glasgow. Crawford won the title by unanimous decision. Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images.

Terence Crawford (right) takes it to Ricky Burns during their WBO lightweight title bout on March 1 in Glasgow. Crawford won the title by unanimous decision. Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images.

 

The fight between lightweight titleholder Terence Crawford and Yuriorkis Gamboa on June 28 will take place in Crawford's hometown of Omaha, Neb., Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said on Tuesday.

Arum said last week that the fighters had agreed in principle to fight one another.

"It's a significant event," said Arum of the matchup, which will happen at Omaha's 18,975-seat CenturyLink Center and be televised on HBO. "Because, without question, it has the two best lightweights in the world fighting each other."



The 26-year-old Crawford (23-0, 16 knockouts), was last in the ring for a dominant, title-winning decision over Ricky Burns in Glasgow, Scotland in March.

A former Olympic gold medalist for Cuba, Gamboa (23-0, 16 KOs) was last in action for a unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Darleys Perez in June.

The title fight will be the first in Omaha since heavyweight champion Joe Frazier beat Ron Stander in 1972, and Crawford is the state's first titleholder since Perry “Kid” Graves from won the vacant welterweight crown in 1914.

"The press conference is Thursday, I'm leaving Wednesday for Omaha. Gamboa will be there, and tickets will go on sale on Friday. I'm looking forward to the fight. First of all, it's great to bring boxing back to the heart of the country," said Arum.

"It's great to have one of Omaha's own to have won the championship in Scotland, and to come back and to make his first title defense in Omaha before the hometown fans. Tickets will be priced very reasonably, with a $100 top, and we wanted to have moderate ticket prices starting at $25, and we are sure that we'll have great, great attendance."

Arum said that Top Rank Vice President Carl Moretti "is trying to make" a co-feature between former lightweight titleholder Juan Diaz (39-4, 19 KOs) and former title challenger Raymundo Beltran (29-6-1, 17 KOs).

Beltran, 32, is coming off last month's unanimous decision over former title challenger Arash Usmanee, which followed a disputed draw with Burns, whose jaw was broken in the fight.

Diaz, 30, is 4-0 with two knockouts in his past four fights, and was last in action for a unanimous decision over Geraldo Robles in March. Diaz had retired for nearly three years after losing a rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez by unanimous decision in July 2010, this, after having been stopped in the ninth round of their first bout in February 2009. Diaz ended his retirement with a sixth-round stoppage of Gerardo Cuevas in April 2013.

 

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