Terence Crawford to defend junior welterweight title May 20

[Ruthless-RKO]

Unified junior welterweight world champion Terence Crawford, one of boxing's top fighters pound for pound, is due back in the ring to make his fifth title defense on May 20, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told ESPN on Wednesday.

Arum, who said May 20 is the date HBO is holding for Crawford (30-0, 21 KOs), said he hopes to have the 29-year-old fight once again in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, where he is a big draw.

Arum said while no opponent has been signed yet there are two candidates in the running: 29-year-old San Diego contender Antonio Orozco (25-0, 16 KOs), one of Crawford's mandatory challengers, and southpaw Felix Diaz (19-1, 9 KOs), 33, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist from the Dominican Republic.

Arum has a distinct opinion on which match he wants to make.

"I want to do the fight with Felix Diaz. That's the best fight for us to make," said Arum, who added that some of his closest advisers in the company are against it. "Lou DiBella (Diaz's promoter) calls me every day about it. That's the fight I want to make."

DiBella said he and Arum have talked money and they are not far apart.

"I'm about to call him again today," DiBella told ESPN. "My guy is ready, willing and able to go May 20 and Omaha would be fine with us. I know there are people within Top Rank that like the fight very much and also I know there are people within Top Rank that don't. That's the way it usually is with a really good, competitive fight. I've been in this business a long time and I gave Bob a number that's fair and he didn't balk. I'm going to continue calling him every day until we hopefully close the deal."