The 2014 BWAA Fighter of the Year returns to the ring before an admiring hometown crowd with a new junior welterweight crown to defend when World Championship Boxing: Terence Crawford vs. Dierry Jean is seen Saturday, Oct. 24 at 9:30 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT) from Century Link Center in Omaha, Neb. The HBO Sports team will call all the action, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.
Omaha native Terence Crawford (26-0, 18 KOs), who turned 28 on Sept. 28, has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past two years, and was recently honored by the BWAA as 2014’s Fighter of the Year. He overwhelmed Thomas Dulorme in April to earn a new title belt at 140 pounds. Now, he returns to a venue that will be filled with supporters, striving to enhance his standing as one of the sport’s greatest talents.
Dierry Jean (29-1, 20 KOs), 33, a native of Port-au-Prince, Haiti and now based in Montreal, is riding a four-bout winning streak, three of them by knockout. He is looking to score one of the top upsets in a weight class filled with exciting fighters and matchups.
Scheduled for 12 rounds, the Crawford-Jean bout was originally part of a previously announced doubleheader that also included a heavyweight title fight between Wladimir Klitschko and Tyson Fury, which was postponed due to injury.