TERENCE CRAWFORD makes his move up to light-welterweight on April 18 at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. The former lightweight champion goes straight into a world title fight at 140lbs, fighting Thomas Dulorme for the vacant WBO crown.

Crawford (25-0, 17 KOs), of Omaha, Nebraska, had a hugely impressive 2014. He captured the WBO lightweight title last March, dethroning Ricky Burns in the defending champion’s native Scotland, with a virtuoso performance. Crawford successfully defended the title twice in 2014, knocking out former world champion Yuriorkis Gamboa in an exciting fight and then took a comprehensive unanimous decision win over one-time world title contender and mandatory challenger Ray Beltran last November.

Puerto Rico’s Dulorme (22-1, 14 KOs) enters his first world championship fight riding a two-year, six-bout winning streak, including his most recent victory, an NABF/NABO junior welterweight title victory over Hank Lundy, which was televised on HBO last December. Immediately prior to that the Puerto Rican outscored Karim Mayfield over 10 rounds. Dulorme is world-rated No. 2 by the World Boxing Association (WBA), No. 3 by the World Boxing Council (WBC) and No. 4 by the WBO and the International Boxing Federation (IBF).

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