Terence Crawford had a big year in 2014, so big in fact that he was named fighter of the year by ESPN. Custom New England Patriots Jerseys .com and the Boxing Writers Association of America, among other outlets. That is a big box to check for any aspiring boxing star and potential future Hall of Famer.During 2014, Crawford traveled to Scotland and rolled to a decision victory to win a lightweight world title from Ricky Burns and then returned home to Omaha, Nebraska, for two impressive performances in title defenses, an exciting ninth-round knockout of former unified featherweight titleholder Yuriorkis Gamboa and a near-shutout decision against veteran contender Raymundo Beltran. Now fast-forward to 2016 and Crawford is on the verge of another 3-0 year against reputable opponents and another possible fighter of the year award.He will defend his unified junior welterweight world title belts against longtime contender John Molina Jr., a determined brawler with a punch as big as his heart, on Saturday (HBO, 9:35 p.m. ET/PT) at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha.In the scheduled 10-round co-feature, lightweight up-and-comer Mason Menard (32-1, 24 KOs), 28, of Rayne, Louisiana, who replaced injured former unified titleholder Juan Diaz, will take on his most notable opponent in Raymundo Beltran (31-7-1, 19 KOs), 35, a Mexico native based in Phoenix.The telecast will open with same-day taped coverage of the vacant heavyweight world title bout from Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand, between Kiwi star Joseph Parker (21-0, 18 KOs), 24, and Andy Ruiz Jr. (29-0, 19 KOs), 27, of Imperial Valley, California, who is bidding to become the first fighter of Mexican descent to win a heavyweight title.The 29-year-old Crawford (29-0, 20 KOs), who has not done much talking in the lead-up to the fight, did manage to squeeze out a few quotes about his belief that he deserves another fighter of the year award should he polish off Molina, a heavy underdog, though he faces stiff competition from fighters such as featherweight titleholder Carl Frampton and junior lightweight titlist Vasyl Lomachenko.If I win Saturday night I should be considered fighter of the year, Crawford boasted.After Crawford defeated Beltran, he moved up to the junior welterweight division and won a world title. In February, he made his second defense and scored a fifth-round knockout of second-tier contender Hank Lundy.Crawfords next fight was the one that put him squarely in the conversation for the award. In July, he scored two knockdowns and cruised to a one-sided decision win against Viktor Postol to unify titles against the fighter considered by virtually everybody as either No. 1 or No. 2 in the weight class. It is, without question, the most significant victory of Crawfords eight-year professional career.Molina (29-6, 23 KOs), 33, of Covina, California, is coming off a strong performance in a decision win against former titlist Ruslan Provodnikov in June. Crawford is so confident of victory that he had no problem continuing to talk about the possible fighter of the year award.I did a number on Hank Lundy, the kind that nobody else was able to do, Crawford said, continuing to make his case. I unified the title against Postol, a guy everybody said was almost as good as I was. I am an undefeated champion and was fighting a guy [Postol] coming off a knockout win against [Lucas] Matthysse and I totally dominated him.Now Im fighting another guy coming off an impressive win, a No. 1 contender, and a win over him should convince people that I am fighter of the year.Brian McIntyre, Crawfords career-long trainer and co-manager, is as outspoken as Crawford when it comes to the fighter of the year hardware. Hed also like get his hands on the trainer of the year trophy, which eluded him in 2014.Im not going to lie to you, we talk about it, McIntyre said of the awards. It is one of our goals to get fighter of the year and trainer of the year. Its not a priority, but it would be great to get it.McIntyre would especially like to win trainer honors and do it in the same year that his fighter gets top honors. He sounded wistful as he spoke about when then-super middleweight champion (and now unified light heavyweight titleholder) Andre Ward and longtime trainer Virgil Hunter collected the awards together in 2011.That was great for them because they did it together, McIntyre said. It would be great for us to do it as a team. It would be like getting the boxing Oscar award. Its like an actor and director getting the Oscar. It would be great for our city, great for our state and great for our gym.McIntyre agreed with Crawford that they deserve the award as long as Crawford beats Molina.Getting those awards is satisfying to a fighter or a coachs career, he said. You can only fight for so long, you can only train fighters for so long and there are not that many fighters and trainers who stick together for their whole careers. Weve been together since the beginning. Weve accomplished a lot together.We should get it this year. Theres nobody else. There are?some guys who accomplished good things out there, but [Crawford] knocked out a top fighter like Lundy, beat Postol easy after Postol came over here [from Russia] and knocked out Matthysse. Everybody had Postol first [at 140 pounds] before Terence. Those two wins were really good for us. This fight here against Molina should solidify fighter of the year and trainer of the year for us.As much as Crawford covets a second fighter of the year award in three years, he believes it is about time that McIntyre get his due from the media.Of course, he should be trainer of the year, Crawford said. How do you think I became fighter of the year? He has?been underrated for many years and he doesnt get enough credit. I think its because we fight out of a small market like Omaha.Then, in perhaps a dig at seven-time trainer of the year and International Boxing Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, Crawford added, If we were based in Los Angeles, it would be a no-brainer that hed be trainer of the year, like when I was fighter of the year in 2014. Thats why its so important to fight in Omaha, because HBO shines a national spotlight on our town and shows that there are great boxers and trainers coming out of here also. New England Patriots Gear . Those lessons were more than enough to overwhelm the Utah Jazz. Lou Williams scored 25 points and the Hawks continued their offensive upswing as they rolled to an easy 118-85 victory over the Jazz on Friday night, winning their third straight and for the fourth time in five games. Fake Patriots Jerseys . Miller finished in two minutes, 6.09 seconds, one day before the first medal race on the Alpine schedule. The 36-year-old American also turned in the top time in Thursdays opening training session. https://www.patriotsjerseysale.com/ . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. PHILADELPHIA -- The Marlins got shut down by a pitcher who could help them down the stretch.Jeremy Hellickson struck out eight in eight impressive innings, Tyler Goeddel hit a two-run homer and the Philadelphia Phillies beat Miami 4-1 on Wednesday night.Hellickson (7-7) allowed one run and five hits, improving his value as the Aug. 1 trade deadline approaches. The Marlins could be among the teams interested.Hes a guy thats got good mix with his changeup, Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. The guy thats able to change speeds like that and kind of yo-yo us, weve had some issues with. (Adam) Wainwright did it to us the other day, a lot of slow stuff, and we just didnt seem to have the game plan we needed with those guys.Miamis Wei-Yin Chen (5-4) gave up four runs and 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings.Chris Johnson hit a solo homer in the fifth for the Marlins.Goeddel snapped an 0-for-16 slump with an opposite-field shot to right to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead in the first. He lined an RBI single to right to make it 3-0 in the second.Peter Bourjos had a sacrifice fly in the sixth.Hellickson didnt need much support. He shut down the Marlins for his first win since July 1.Hellickson, who started on opening day, is likely to be traded to a contending team in the next 10 days. He signed a $7 million, one-year deal with the Phillies in the offseason.The 29-year-old right-hander is 3-3 with a 3.00 ERA in his last seven starts.Just kiind of got handcuffed all night offensively, Mattingly said. Stitched Patriots Jerseys. Jeanmar Gomez finished for his 26th save in 29 tries.STATSGoeddels three RBI are a career best. The homer was his first hit since July 1. ... 2B Cesar Hernandez snapped an 0-for-20 slump with an infield single in the second inning. He finished 3 for 4. ... Giancarlo Stanton was 0 for 4 and is 1 for 12 in the series. ... Marlins C J.T. Realmuto is batting .368 (32-87) with a .415 on-base percentage over his last 21 games played. ... Christian Yelich is batting .364 (32-88) in 21 career games in Philadelphia.STANDINGSThe Marlins lost (51-43) for just the second time in nine games. They lead the Mets by one game for the second wild-card spot in the NL. The Phillies (44-52) are eight games behind Miami.MR. 3000Ichiro Suzuki flied out to deep right-center as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning. He remains at 2,994 career hits.TRAINERS ROOMMarlins: Mattingly said 2B Dee Gordon is fine after cramping in his leg forced him to leave a game early at Triple-A New Orleans. Gordon is serving an 80-game suspension for a positive drug test and is eligible to rejoin Miami on July 28.UP NEXT:RHP Tom Koehler (6-8, 4.68 ERA) starts for the Marlins while RHP Jerad Eickhoff (6-10, 3.76) goes for the Phillies in the series finale Thursday. ' ' '