Terence Crawford following his match with Ray Beltran last Saturday (Photo: Naoki Fukuda)

By Chris Robinson

On Nov. 29, WBO lightweight champion Terence Crawford easily handled rugged former title challenger Ray Beltran over 12 rounds. Showing great movement and the ability to switch from lefty to righty throughout the night, Crawford was simply a few steps ahead of his courageous opponent, winning by scores of 120-108 and 119-109 twice.

Crawford has established himself as one of the rising faces in the the sport of boxing and he is also becoming a staple on HBO’s airwaves. And while he was a bit of an unknown commodity a few years back, not everyone has been shocked to see such success coming from the Omaha, Neb. native.

Fellow lightweight titlist Mickey Bey, the IBF champion at 135 pounds, seemed to see it coming from a mile away.

“Terence used to live with me out here in Vegas, so I’ve known him for a while,” Bey recently told HustleBoss.com “I’m proud of him. He’s been working hard since he was a kid.”

For Bey, he could tell first hand just how far Terence would go from being around him.

“Oh, yeah for sure,” said Bey. “Without a doubt. You always know who is going to be a champion, because all the guys at the top now, they was top amateur fighters. He was always a top level amateur fighter, so I knew he’d be champion.”

*** Want more from Bey? Check out the FULL interview below for his thoughts on one day facing Terence and why he felt Ray Beltran had the wrong mindset heading into their match…

Chris Robinson can be reached at CRobinson@hustleboss.com