Terence Crawford Demolished Errol Spence And Changed Boxing In One Night
Image Credit: Premier Boxing Champions
Terence Crawford has a chip on his shoulder, and for good reason: he's as good as he says. "Bud" proved all the doubters wrong on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena when he gave a masterclass in boxing against Errol Spence, Jr.
Crawford KO'd Spence in the ninth round after winning virtually every round and owning the ring generalmanship portion of the bout. Although the Las Vegas oddsmakers had Crawford as the favorite weeks leading up to the fight, popular opinion was that Errol would do what he usually does: dominate in workhorse fashion.
Changing Of The Guard
However, Spence tasted the canvas for the first time in his career in the second round 2. Then it happened again, twice in Round 7. Referee Harvey Dock eventually called off the fight after a flurry from Crawford that showed Errol on the receiving end of unanswered punishment. The stoppage made "Bud" a two-time undisputed world champion. No other welterweight in the four-belt era has accomplished this feat.
"Like I said before, I only dreamed of being a world champion," Crawford said in his ring interview. "I'm an overachiever. Nobody believed in me when I was coming up, but I made everybody a believer. And I want to thank Spence and his team, like I told him, because without him none of this would be possible for me."
The 35-year-old Crawford became a better businessman to make the fight happen, ironically similar to another undefeated legendary welterweight, Floyd "Money" Mayweather. He left his promoter, Bob Arum, and Top Rank because he felt they couldn't make the fight happen with Spence. Additionally, Crawford took the B side of promotion but had some strategic looks that worked out in his favor.
The two had a coin toss to determine who walked out first or second, and Crawford won. He walked out second, which gave the appearance of the A-side, and surprised the world by walking out with Eminem to his song, "Lose Yourself."
There Can Only Be One
Crawford was stronger, sharper, and slicker than Spence the whole night, making him look like the key to beating him was hiding in plain sight. Crawford looked like Hagler with a Mayweather's brain, applying pressure, brilliant defense, and hitting Spence in angles he wasn't expecting.
"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."
There is a rematch clause, and Spence said he would activate at a higher weight class of 154lbs, probably to create a heavier weight in hopes of being stronger and making Crawford slower. However, from the display of boxing excellence that Crawford showed, many believe at any weight class, Spence always loses to one of the newly crowned kings of boxing, Terence "Bud" Crawford.