Bob Arum Needs to Test Terence Crawford, Shakur Stevenson

Terence "Bud" Crawford made boxing look pretty easy against challenger Felix Diaz, forcing a stoppage before the start of the 11th round on Saturday night.

When he wasn't toying with Diaz, tapping him on the head and making faces at the former Olympic gold medalist, the WBC and WBO super lightweight champion was jabbing his way to an easy win, splicing in the occasional uppercut until Diaz's eyes had swelled shut and his corner threw in the towel.

"I barely got hit," said Crawford (31-0, 22 KOs), who out-landed Diaz, 193-69, according to CompuBox. "I was in total control. I had no problems."

The business of boxing, on the other hand, looked much more difficult.

Only Madison Square Garden's lower bowl was open on Saturday. And of the 8,026 tickets that were sold, several thousand were purchased by fans of Jonathan Maicelo, the veteran Peruvian lightweight who was seemingly in control of his fight against Ray Beltran before being knocked unconscious in the second round and being taken out on a stretcher.

Another significant contingent of fans came from nearby Newark to see hometown hero Shakur Stevenson, who easily improved to 2-0 by earning a first-round stoppage against Carlos Gaston Suarez.

"It was amazing," the 19-year-old Olympic silver medalist said. "Came out, saw some faces that I already knew. I was in my home town. It was an amazing feeling, seeing all the fans that are supporting me."

And while Crawford certainly drew the majority of the fans on Saturday, he didn't make an impact at the box office that's commensurate with his talent. The reality is that Crawford's presence at 140 pounds would be like LeBron James playing in the Adriatic Basketball Association. (Or LeBron James playing against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, for that matter)

Even Crawford seemed eager to move up to welterweight, where many of the sport's biggest names make a living.

"[I want Manny] Pacquiao," Crawford said after the win, referring to the WBO welterweight champion. "That's the only fight out there that we are really looking for."

Crawford, however, still has one more errand at 140 pounds: a unification bout with IBF and WBA super lightweight champion Julius Indongo.

"Indongo is here," Crawford said. "He came to my fight. Let's get it on, Indongo, wherever you are at. Keith Thurman? Whoever. I'll fight anybody."

Thurman, the WBC and WBA welterweight champion, just had elbow surgery and is done for the year, so he's not an option.

Pacquiao, who Crawford has been talking about for years, is also promoted by Bob Arum's Top Rank; but that doesn't mean a fight between the two is on the immediate horizon. The Filipino senator is set to defend his WBO title against Australia's Jeff Horn in July.

That likely leaves Crawford with a unification bout against Namibia's Indongo.

"I'm looking to do that this summer," Arum said Saturday. "We're gonna reach out to Indigo, who has the two other belts. Like to do a fight for four belts. Then once he gets all four belts, he's gonna fight Pacquiao."

And if Indongo can't make a deal with Crawford, the alternately jovial and cantankerous Arum will find someone else for Bud to fight before he gets his first true test in the 38-year-old Pacquiao.

"Crawford is gonna fight this summer," Arum said. "If we can get the fight for the unification, that's fine, but he's gonna fight this summer. Don't ask me, 'Did they give him a date?' That's yesterday's news. I'm a fucking promoter, I'm gonna get a fight that people wanna see. I'm gonna put it on on a date that I wanna put it on."

Asked if the 29-year-old Crawford could force a "changing of the guard" by beating the legend at 147 pounds, Arum bristled again.

"No changing of the guard," said Arum, before taking a swipe at president Donald Trump. "It's either a fight that people wanna see and they'll pay for or it's a fight that they won't pay for. Changing of the guard is bullshit fake news."

The thing is, whoever Arum finds to fight Crawford before Pacquiao isn't likely to move the needle with fight fans. Junior welterweight (A.K.A. super lightweight) has failed to truly challenge Crawford, who previously held the WBO lightweight crown.

Former junior welterweight Adrien Broner is back at 147 pounds, and could make a good fight for Crawford, but Arum didn't seem interested in the idea and instead poked fun at the Cincinnati native for a recent incident in which Broner was pulled over in Kentucky while driving an SUV that was covered in bullet holes.

If Crawford's immediate future remains clouded, his desire to face better fighters is abundantly clear.

"It's not up to me," Crawford said about who he fights next. "But everybody wants to know: who's the next guy that Terence Crawford wanna fight? I'll fight anybody."

Pacquiao was not the only one of Arum's fighters to be called out by another on Saturday.

After absorbing a single punch in his knockout victory, Stevenson, a featherweight, did not hesitate to tell reporters on Saturday that his dream is to face WBO super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko.

"I do wanna move fast and I want to win a world title by 21," Stevenson said. "Maybe 22. I want [Vasyl Lomachenko] too.

"I don't think Lomachenko is gonna get any bigger," he continued. "I think he's pushing it to jump out because he wants to fight the best people, and I respect it, but I don't think he's gonna get no bigger. I think we're gonna meet at 130."

And before Lomachenko, who some regard as the world's best boxer, Stevenson could see another of Arum's young prospects, 25-year-old Irish Olympian Michael Conlan.

Of course, Arum isn't in a rush to have his fighters beat one another and hurt their marketability going forward. Even mentioning Lomachenko and Crawford in the same breath, Arum took a second to "Thank God they're not in the same weight class."

Whatever he decides, Arum promised that Crawford and Lomachenko will be busy this year, and Stevenson will fight "every six weeks" or so.

"He's gonna fight somebody," Arum said of Crawford. "He's gonna take two weeks off and then go back in the ring. The idea that you get a talent like Crawford or Lomachenko and you have them fight once or twice a year is a crime."