LOS ANGELES:
Terence Crawford punished Errol Spence on the best way to a ninth-round technical knockout to assert the undisputed welterweight world title in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Unbeaten Crawford had knocked down Spence thrice and had his beforehand unbeaten foe staggering below a hail of blows when referee Harvey Dock known as a halt at 2:32 within the ninth.
Crawford added Spence’s World Boxing Affiliation, World Boxing Council and Worldwide Boxing Federation titles to his personal World Boxing Group crown.
Crawford grew to become the primary undisputed welterweight world champion of boxing’s four-belt period, which started in 2004.
A former light-weight and undisputed gentle welterweight world champion, he grew to become the primary man to win all of the belts in two weight divisions.
“It means the whole lot due to who I took the belts from,” Crawford mentioned.
“They tried to blackball me, they saved me out, they saved me out. They talked dangerous about me, they mentioned I wasn’t ok, that I could not beat these high welterweights, and I simply saved my head to the sky and I saved praying to God that I might get the chance to indicate the world who Terence Crawford is.”
“And tonight, I imagine I confirmed how nice I’m,” added Crawford, who improved to 40-Zero with 31 knockouts, taking his string of knockouts to 11 fights.
That features all eight of his fights at welterweight.
It was a stunningly dominant efficiency in what was anticipated to be a detailed combat, one which had drawn comparisons to traditional welterweight match-ups corresponding to Roberto Duran v Sugar Ray Leonard and to newer mega-fights like Floyd Mayweather’s 2015 victory over Manny Pacquiao.
Music famous person Eminem supplied in-person accompaniment for Crawford’s stroll to the ring. The sellout crowd at T-Cellular Enviornment included a who’s-who of boxing royalty headlined by heavyweight greats Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield and likewise that includes Mayweather and Pacquiao.
Spence made the working within the opening spherical, however Crawford, combating southpaw, started to let his arms go within the second, punishing Spence with a piston-like jab that dropped him on the finish of the spherical.
“That was extra of a flash knockdown,” Crawford mentioned. “I caught him with a left and he did not assume I used to be coming again with the best.”
Spence was nonetheless transferring ahead in spherical three, however the energy and accuracy of Crawford’s counter punches have been devastating.
Crawford landed a collection of arduous punches within the fourth, together with a left that rattled Spence.
It was extra of the identical within the sixth, and within the seventh Crawford had Spence down once more with a proper uppercut adopted by a hook to the ear.
He dropped him once more with a blow to the chin within the waning seconds of the spherical.
Spence, who had by no means earlier than been knocked down, fell to 28-1 with 22 knockouts.
He got here out for the ninth nonetheless in search of the massive punch that may flip issues round. However Crawford was touchdown at will with Spence struggling to remain on his toes when the referee introduced it to a detailed, sparking a celebration for Crawford who then had an embrace and phrases of encouragement for his crushed rival.
Spence was combating for the primary time since a 10th-round stoppage of Yordenis Ugas in April of final yr.
He did not combat in 2021, when a deliberate bout with Pacquiao was scuppered by a torn retina that required surgical procedure.
However the 33-year-old mentioned ring rust wasn’t the issue.
“He was simply higher tonight,” mentioned Spence, who was already agitating for a rematch that he mentioned he hoped could be on the larger weight restrict of 154 kilos.