Terence Crawford stopped Errol Spence Jr. in a one-sided affair to become the two-time undisputed welterweight champion of the world.
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In a fight that many saw as toss-up, Crawford made it look effortless as he dropped Spence three times before stopping him by 9th-round TKO en route to becoming a two-time undisputed champion of the world on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Spence had his only meaningful outing in the opening round. The 33-year-old used a nice jab and pressure to find Crawford as he started trying to set his offense up. Due to Crawford being known as a "late starter", the majority of the boxing world thought this would be the trend until the middle rounds, where Crawford is typically known to take over.
In the second round, "Bud" let a lead left find its mark while ending with a hard jab. It was a jab so furious that it dropped "The Truth" for the first time in his career. Clearly shocked, Spence went back to his corner to try and regain composure while listening to instructions from his trainer, Derrick James.
From Round 2 on it was all Crawford as he took the "Big Fish" to deep waters and continued to batter Spence with a shotgun-like jab and crisp, clean, hard, accurate counters. Over the next five rounds, Spence tried valiantly to return the favor with body shots and his own combos before he was dropped again two more times in the seventh round. The unified welterweight champion got up both times, but it was not looking good and the destruction was showing all over his face.
Crawford displayed more of the same beautiful boxing in the eighth and ninth rounds as he continued to outclass Spence with brutal counters, precise angles and a dominating jab. Spence was going to need a miracle to rally back against this performance, but Crawford smelled blood and went in for the kill in Round 9. "Bud" released a barrage of punches that sent Spence's head back before the experienced Harvey Dock stepped in to stop the merciless one-sided beating. Crawford is one of the best finishers, if not the best, in boxing.
History for Terence Crawford
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According to The Sporting News, Crawford is the first fighter in the four-belt era to become undisputed at welterweight and is the first male fighter to become undisputed in two different weight classes in an absolutely spectacular performance that likely unseats Naoya Inoue as the No.1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
In a live post fight interview with Jim Gray from Showtime Boxing, Crawford professed what this win meant to him.
"It means everything because of who I took the belts from," Crawford said. "They tried to blackball me, they kept me out, they kept me out. They talked bad about me, they said I wasn't good enough, that I couldn't beat these top welterweights, and I just kept my head to the sky and I kept praying to God that I would get the opportunity to show the world who Terence Crawford is. And tonight, I believe I showed how great I am."
Spence was all class while speaking to Jim Gray after the devastating loss. Errol made no excuses in the fight proclaiming that the better boxer won.
"He was the better man tonight. He was using his jab, and my timing was a little bit off. He was catching me in between shots. He was just better tonight. I make no excuses."
Spence has the option to use the immediate rematch clause within 30 days of the fight and expressed he wants that by years end. At 154 pounds. Crawford is open to that option, but he might have bigger fish to fry as he plans to move up in weight to fight the best boxers in the world.
Crawford moves to 40-0 (30 KO's) and Spence drops to 28-1 (22 KO's) while suffering the first loss of his career.
