CURRENT WBC and WBO world champion, Terence Crawford, beamed and posed for photos with fans outside of a courtroom in his hometown of Omaha on Wednesday.
Despite the joyful scene steps away from the tribunal, the undefeated two division titlist was found guilty of two misdemeanor charges stemming from an incident that occurred at Extreme Custom Fleet and Auto Spa in Omaha earlier this year. Sentencing will take place in December.
Crawford was tried for disorderly conduct, property damage, and trespassing, but was found not guilty of the latter charge as there was insufficient evidence to prove that the boxer unlawfully entered the “employees only zone” of the facility in question.
“It’s not about what the charges are or what they get convicted of,” said Omaha City Prosector Matt Kuhse to local NBC affiliate WOWT-TV. “It’s about what the evidence shows and the quality of the evidence, and obviously the court believed that the quality of the evidence was enough for guilty beyond a unreasonable doubt for two of the three charges, so we’re happy with the decision.”
Video from the April incident shows Crawford and four associates entering a garage, lowering Crawford’s 1984 Monte Carlo from a hydraulic lift- breaking it in the process- and pushing the vehicle out of the building, allegedly without paying for work performed on the car.
After a rapid rise to contender status, Crawford joined boxing’s elite class when he defeated Ricky Burns, Yuriourkis Gamboa and Ray Beltran in a stellar 2014.
In his most recent outing, the Nebraska native earned another belt after sending unbeaten Ukrainian Viktor Postol to the canvas twice en route to a one-sided unanimous decision victory.
A November hometown date was penciled in for Crawford, according to his trainer Brian McIntyre. There is no word yet as to how the verdicts will affect the boxer’s fight schedule.
