LAS VEGAS (AP) — Terence Crawford decimated Errol Spence Jr. in a tour de force performance Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, winning a ninth-round TKO to capture the undisputed welterweight belt.
Crawford floored Spence twice in Round 2 and once more in Round 7, completing a two-handed beatdown to take the IBF, WBA, and WBC 147-pound crowns, in addition to the WBO belt.
Crawford, 35, crumpled a bruised and swollen Spence in Round 9 and was unloading unanswered blows when referee Harvey Dock mercifully called time at 2:32.
Spence, 33, objected to the delay but seemed to lose every round but the first.
“Like I said before, I only dreamed of being a world champion,” said Crawford, ESPN’s No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer. “I’m an overachiever. Nobody believed in me when I was coming up, but I made everybody a believer.”
Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs), nicknamed “Bud,” won his first world championship in 2014, a decision against Ricky Burns at 135 pounds, in Scotland. He went on to win the uncontested 140-pound championship and is currently the first guy to hold all four 147-pound titles.
“It means everything because of who I took the belts from,” said Crawford, who was accompanied by music superstar Eminem and his seminal hit “Lose Yourself” as he entered the ring.
Crawford dominated the fight from the start when Spence was downed for the first time in his career in Round 2. Crawford landed a left punch to Spence’s midsection, setting up a southpaw jab for a quick knockout.
Crawford later told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith that after Spence struck with a looping overhand left in the first two rounds, he thought, “This is it?… He’s going to have a rough night.”
And it was, despite the fact that Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) never stopped coming forward behind his consistent southpaw jab. He got cut above the right eye in Round 3 and scarcely landed a blow of significance for the rest of the fight.
Source: ESPN
