Terence Crawford administered a shocking beatdown of Errol Spence in their long-awaited unification bout on Saturday night, becoming the first undisputed welterweight champion in nearly four decades while staking a credible claim as the world’s best fighter regardless of weight.
Crawford knocked down Spence in the second round and twice more in the seventh before referee Harvey Dock intervened at the 2:32 mark of round nine. No one in the sold-out crowd of 19,990 at the T-Mobile Arena would have protested if he’d stepped in sooner.
The matchup between undefeated American stars more than five years in the making was billed as the best fight that boxing could deliver. But after an opening round that unfolded on even terms, it quickly spun into little more than a platform for Crawford’s generational talent. The 35-year-old Nebraskan stamped his name into history with an extraordinary exhibition of power, precision and ring generalship that made an elite opponent look like a novice.
Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs), a former champion at 135lbs and 140lbs who went off as a slight favorite in Saturday’s eagerly anticipated showdown, became the first fighter to hold all of the recognized world titles at welterweight since 1986, when Lloyd Honeyghan stopped Donald Curry at Caesars Atlantic City to capture the WBA, WBC and IBF belts in one of the great upsets in British boxing history.
It came at the expense of Spence (28-1, 22 KOs), a 2012 US Olympian from the Dallas suburb of DeSoto, whose deliberate come-forward approach, dependent on generating pressure behind a methodical southpaw jab, proved no match for Crawford’s dynamic switch-hitting style and note-perfect counter-punching.
“I only dreamed of being a world champion,” said Crawford, who extended his streak of 11 straight knockouts, including all eight opponents he’s faced since moving up to 147lbs. “I’m an overachiever. Nobody believed in me when I was coming up, but I made everybody a believer. I want to thank Spence and his team because without him none of this would have been possible.”
Spence was the busier fighter in the opening round, using his jab as a rangefinder and targeting Crawford’s midsection. The naturally bigger man, he used deft footwork and a dedicated body attack to move Crawford backward into the second. But when he overextended himself with a right hand to the body that badly missed the target, Crawford made him pay with a counter delivered with pinpoint accuracy that dumped him to the canvas for the first time in 29 professional fights. It only went downhill from there.
The wounded champion came out for the third round intent on showing his fighting spirit was intact, bursting into the pocket with heavy shots that his foe parried and blocked with ease. By the fourth, the Texan was bleeding from a cut over his right eye as the gulf in hand speed was laid bare. Crawford coolly operated with surgical precision, using his jab as a power punch as Spence walked into one thudding shot after another.
“He was just throwing the hard jab,” Spence said. “He was timing with his jab. His timing was just on point. I wasn’t surprised by his speed or his accuracy. It was everything I thought.”
The punishment continued to mount in the fifth and sixth as Crawford badly mistreated his flagging opponent, leaving his face bloodied and swollen. Spence went down a second time under a combination of punches early in the seventh, then again from a heat-seeking right hook in the dying seconds of the round.
From there it was only a matter of time. A famously ruthless finisher, Crawford poured it on until Spence was left defenseless on rubbery legs in the ninth. Once the Omaha southpaw landed a series of nine straight uncontested blows, the referee was left with no choice but to wave it off.
“It was a good stoppage,” Crawford said. “I was on the verge of coming back with some hard shots. Everybody knows I’m a great finisher. The ref did what he was supposed to do to protect the fighter.”
Compubox’s punch statistics lent quantitative context to Crawford’s sheer dominance. He connected on a remarkable 185 of 369 blows (50.1%), including 98 of 163 power shots (60.1%). Spence was limited to 96 of 480 punches landed (20%), including a scant 33 of 296 of his jabs (11.1%), his preferred weapon historically.
“We were worried about the jab coming in because that’s how he sets up all of his shots,” Crawford said. “Our main focus was the jab. You take away his best attribute. The rest is history.”
Said a downcast Spence, who tasted defeat for the first time since a loss to Russia’s Andrey Zamkovoy in the 69kg quarter-finals of the London Olympics more than a decade ago: “He was just better tonight. He was using the jab. My timing was a little bit off. He was just the better man tonight.”
The contract for Saturday’s fight included a two-way rematch clause that can be triggered by the loser within 30 days, although the winner gets to decide whether the fight will take place at 147lbs or 154lbs.
Spence has made no secret of his desire to leave 147lbs behind for good, opening up during the run-up about his struggles to make the welterweight limit. But he didn’t hesitate for a moment when asked whether he plans to exercise his option for a replay.
“We got to do it again,” Spence said. “I’m going to be a lot better. It’ll be a lot closer. It’ll probably be in December and the end of the year. I say we got to do it again. Hopefully, it will happen at 154.”
