Terence Crawford to Fight John Molina Jr. on Dec. 10

One of boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighters will be in action on Dec. 10 as Terence Crawford is slated to face John Molina Jr. An official announcement is expected on Thursday but the duel will take place at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Neb., Crawford’s hometown.

Crawford (29-0, 20 KOs) was briefly discussed as a possible opponent for Manny Pacquiao, but when Top Rank opted for “Pac Man” to instead fight Jessie Vargas on Nov. 4, it left “Bud” out in the cold. But while the undefeated champion waits for a major showdown with one or more of boxing’s best, he’ll put his skills to the test against Molina, a tough veteran who has already some of the sport’s elite fighters.

Molina (29-6, 23 KOs) has challenged for and won a handful of regional titles but he came up short in his lone world championship bout when he was knocked out in the first by Antonio DeMarco back in 2012. The Californian holds wins over such foes like Henry Lundy, Mickey Bey and Ruslan Provodnikov, but he’s also come up short against Lucas Matthysse, Adrien Broner and Martin Honorio.

Crawford, meanwhile, is one of the most highly-touted fighters in the sport today. He captured the WBO lightweight title when he dominated Ricky Burns in 2014 and then moved up to snatch the WBO’s super lightweight crown last April when he stopped Thomas Dulorme in the sixth. He added the WBC 140-pound championship to his resume in July when he trounced Viktor Postol for 12 rounds.

HBO will televise the bout and a full undercard will be announced shortly.