Crawford 'Excited To Be Fighting At The Garden'

Undefeated WBO and WBC Junior Welterweight Champion Terence Crawford (30-0, 21 KOs), of Omaha, Neb., will make his 2017 debut, Saturday night (May 20) at Madison Square against Felix Diaz,19-1-(9). 

The fight will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing®, beginning at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT. 

Crawford and Díaz, were joined by the Pride of Newark and 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medallist Shakur Stevenson , world-rated lightweight contenders  Ray "Sugar" Beltran and Jonathon "The Last Inca" Maicelo for the final press conference at Madison Square Garden.  

Below is what they had to say:

TERENCE CRAWFORD

“I‘m excited to be fighting in The Garden’s main arena and following in the steps of great fighters – legends.  I am proud to continue the tradition.  I don’t feel any pressure fighting at The Garden.  The ring, no matter where it is, always feels like home to me.  I just have to keep winning.  If I keep winning then the opportunities for even bigger fights will present themselves.  But this is a really big fight to me.  Diaz is a worthy challenger and you can’t bring just any fight to The Garden.  I didn’t get this far without winning.  I ‘m ready for any opportunities at 140 or 147 pounds.  I want to put a show on for everyone on Saturday night.   I WILL make a statement.” 

FÉLIX DÍAZ   

“I‘m up for this challenge.  I really believe this will be a war on Saturday night.  I’m going to have massive support from my fellow Dominicans.  I have a great chance of winning this fight.  I see a lot of weaknesses in his game that I know I can take advantage of.  He is one of the best, but I have fought at welterweights and he hasn’t.  I believe I have the power to hurt him."

RAY BELTRAN

“This fight is so important to me.  It’s for a shot at world title and for my Green Card.  If I win this fight, my next stop is Trump Tower where I can wave my Green Card at the building for everyone in there to see it.  I’ve had so many struggles to get here today.  My family’s future depends on my winning the fight.  Everything is riding on this.”

JONATHAN MAICELO

“The Garden will feel like Peru to me on Saturday night.  I have a lot of Peruvian fans coming to the fight to root for me.  With a world title shot at stock I’m going to give it everything I’ve got on Saturday night.”             

SHAKUR STEVENSON

“I’m excited and ready to put on a show.  I want to prove to everyone that I’m the best prospect to come out of the 2016 Olympics.  The Olympics was a great experience because I was seen by a lot of people.  It was great being in training camp with Terence [Crawford].  I learned a lot from sparring with him.  Every punch he threw, even the narrow misses were like, ‘WOW!’  It’s been a long time since I have fought this close to home.  Newark will be in The Garden in a big way on Saturday”