By Tom Donelson (BWAA) Member Boxing Writers of America

Terrance Crawford has been one of the best pound-for-pound fighters having been first a lightweight champion before cleaning out the junior welterweights 다운로드. He faced Errol Spence Jr. for Spence’s WBA, WBC, and IBF titles along with his own WBO title.  Spence, Jr. had been a welterweight titlist since he defeated Kell Brook in 2017 for his IBF title. 

Spence, Jr 버뮤다 신드롬. is a slick boxer who can change sides seamlessly, has a powerful jab, and could sting the body with powerful shots. He had been a welterweight for his entire career as Crawford moved up to the welterweight. Crawford was one of those fighters who combines both power and boxing style, but I viewed this fight as a close one before the opening bell rang. I was wrong 다운로드.

Crawford often takes the early part of a fight to figure out his opponent and ends up giving away early rounds on the scorecard; but he comes back in the second half of the fight. In the opening four rounds, Spence averaged nineteen punches landed and thirty-five thrown compared to Crawford landing only seven punches and throwing fifteen. Spence has been a consistent puncher and he averaged nineteen punches landed per round throughout the bout; but Crawford increased both his input and accuracy as he doubled both his punches landed and thrown over the final four rounds 다운로드. This trend would indicate that it would be a close fight with Spence most likely to win the early rounds.

According to CompuBox, both Spence and Crawford are among the top ten when it comes to landing combination punches and their data were similar coming into this fight 다운로드.

The first round was a feeling out round as Spence threw forty-seven punches while only landing five, and Crawford landed only two punches; but then Crawford usually starts out slowly. While I gave Spence the first round, it had more to do with him throwing a ton of punches, but he was ineffectual. This would be the last round he would win as Crawford turned this fight into a virtuoso performance.

In the second round, Crawford nailed Spence with a straight left that put Spence on his seat. Spence got up quickly, but this was the first time Spence hit the canvas and it gave Crawford a 10-8 score.  The third round was close as Crawford landed fourteen punches to Spence’s seventeen, but Crawford was the more accurate puncher as he connected on those fourteen punches while throwing only thirty-seven whereas Spence needed sixty-two punches to land seventeen. Crawford had the more effective defense and Spence was having trouble landing those big shots.

In the fourth round, a straight left backed up Spence and hurt him while a hook busted up Spence’s nose. In the fifth round, Crawford landed upper cuts and hooks as he dominated the round. Spence looked spent but he showed his guts by fighting on. Crawford continued to land punches at will and in the seventh round, Crawford sent Spence down twice in the last minute of the round with lefts. 

The eighth round was a mere prelude to the ninth and final round as Crawford closed the show landing combinations that stunned Spence before the referee stopped the fight.

At the age of thirty-five, Crawford proved himself to be at the top of his game, and this may have been his greatest fight. He connected on 185 punches to Spence’s 96 punches, and his connect rate was 50 percent. He also landed 60 percent of his power shots, something that none of Spence’s other opponents had ever done.

What was supposed to be a close fight turned into a rout for Terrance Crawford who showed that he is one of the top pound-for-pound fighters. Last week Naoya Inoue showed that he was a complete fighter and Crawford proved to be an equally complete fighter. Both men can box, and they can slug. 

Crawford often starts fights slowly, but, in this fight, he only used the first round as his feeling out round. By the second round, Crawford figured out his opponent and from that point on, it was all Crawford. Crawford has now become the undisputed champion in two different weight divisions, at 140 pounds and 147 pounds, so where does he go from here?  He can fight Jaron Ennis or Vergil Ortiz or move up.  Spence wants a rematch; not at welterweight but at junior middleweight as he is no longer going to fight as a welterweight. So, does Crawford move up to junior middleweight or finish up the welterweight division?  Would Crawford’s domination of Spence hurt the rematch even if at a higher division?  And let’s not forget that a rematch at junior middleweight would not be for a title, so there will be less appeal for the fight.  For now, Crawford has proven himself one of the elite boxers in the world.