Terence Crawford to defend WBO welterweight title vs. Egidijus Kavaliauskas in main event of stacked card

'Bud' Crawford will be expected to handle his opponent on top of a loaded card in MSG

Saturday, Dec. 14 will see the return to the ring of arguably the top pound-for-pound boxer in the world when Terence "Bud" Crawford looks to make the third defense of his WBO 147-pound championship against Egidijus Kavaliauskas. The card, which takes place from Madison Square Garden in New York, also features rising star Teofimo Lopez Jr. taking a shot at IBF lightweight champ Richard Commey and Michael Conlan taking on Vladimir Nikitin in a featherweight rematch of their controversial fight from the Rio Olympics.

Crawford (35-0, 26 KOs), who had previously held titles at lightweight and junior welterweight, won the WBO welterweight championship with a June 2018 TKO of Jeff Horn. He successfully defended the belt with TKOs of José Benavidez Jr. and Amir Khan before the well seemingly ran dry of compelling welterweight contenders in the Top Rank pool while more attractive fights have developed for fellow welterweight cahmpion Errol Spence Jr.

In Kavaliauskas (21-0-1 17 KOs), Crawford faces an undefeated two-time Olympian and WBO mandatory challenger. Kavaliauskas' most recent fight was a majority draw against Ray Robinson in March, with one judge scoring the fight for Robinson and the other two scoring the fight a draw. The lackluster fight seemingly set back the possibility of Kavaliauskas getting a shot at Crawford, and Robinson called for his own shot at "Bud" by using his status as the last man to beat Crawford in the amateurs as a selling point. In the end, the mandatory challenger slot went to Kavaliauskas, and he got the call to give the Top Rank promoted star his second fight of 2019.

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Lopez (14-0. 11 KO), 22, has been one of the most exciting prospects in boxing, employing a flashy style in the ring and scoring impressive knockouts during the undefeated start to his career. In his most recent bout, he looked less impressive in earning a tough unanimous decision over the taller Masayoshi Nakatani. After the Nakatani fight, Lopez said, "Horrible. But it is what it is. The guy's tall. From this point on, we're only fighting guys my height."

The fight with Commey (29-2, 26 KO) will be a tough test, and is far from a sure thing for the prodigy. Comey is a hard-hitting and durable champ with the ability to take people off their game with a strong pressure attack. He won the IBF lightweight belt with a blistering performance against Isa Chaniev in February, and defended his title with an eighth-round knockout of Ray Beltran in August.

The third bout on the ESPN tripleheader is a grudge match that dates back to the 2016 Olympic games where Belfast's Michael Conlan (12-0, 7 KO) seemingly had done more than enough to beat Vladimir Nikitin (3-0, 0 KO), only to have the judges turn in stunning 29-28 scorecards for Nikitin. Following the loss, Conlan infamously spun in the ring flashing a pair of middle fingers before giving a blistering interview to RTE in the moments following. 

"AIBA are cheats," Conlan said at the time. "They're f---ing cheats. That's me. I'll never box for AIBA again. They're cheating bastards who are paying everybody. I don't give a f--k if I'm cursing on TV. That here is the Olympic gold. My dreams have been shattered now. Do you know what? I've a big career ahead of me. And these ones? They're known for being cheats and they'll always be cheats. Amateur boxing stinks from the core right to the top."

Nikitin -- who pulled out of a scheduled September fight between the two in Belfast -- said of the rematch, "He's bitter over our last fight and can't accept the result. Well, my hand will be raised once again."