CRAWFORD BECOMES SIXTH FIGHTER TO WIN LIGHTWEIGHT, LIGHT WELTERWEIGHT AND WELTERWEIGHT TITLES
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 12 Jun 2018
Terence Crawford's debut in the welterweight division was very impressive on Saturday when he devastated and wrested the crown from WBO champion Jeff Horn. Crawford (33-0, 24 KOs), who had unified all four light welterweight titles last August, became the newest three-division champion by winning via a ninth-round TKO of Horn at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
"Like I told you all before, I'm strong," Crawford was quoted by CBS Sports. "You all didn't believe me, and I was way stronger than him. You all kept telling me how strong he was but you didn't give me enough credit, and I had to show you all."
The 30-year-old Crawford was the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, according to Boxing Writers Association of America and Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and No.2 by The Ring Magazine, showed his supremacy over Horn (18-1-1, 12 KOs).
"He's a very good boxer," Horn said as told to CBS Sports. "I knew he was going to be on the back foot countering. I thought I could beat him coming forward, and it proved to be a bit too much. Well done, Terence Crawford, a great fighter. He was strong and didn't seem like a smaller guy, that's for sure."
Crawford landed 81% of his punches on the head of Horn, landing 63 punches each to both sides of Horn's head.
According to CompuBox, Crawford outlanded Horn 155-58. He's the sixth fighter in boxing history to win titles at lightweight, junior welterweight and welterweight. The other five boxers were Manny Pacquiao, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Pernell Whitaker and Barney Ross.
Horn was heavily outpunched by both Crawford (155 to 58) and Pacquiao (182 to 92).
Duco Events promoter Dean Lonergan did not believe Horn was totally overshadowed by Crawford. ?You?ve got to understand, Jeff Horn is one of the toughest individuals to come out of Australia,? he said.
?I think he could have gone on for another round or two and it would have been nice to see what would have happened with a bit more tiredness in Crawford."
He was dominant in the closing stages of the bout by landing 47 of 77 power shots thrown in the last two rounds as Horn's punches became fewer.
Trainer Glenn Rushton commented that the referee stopped the fight prematurely.
?I thought that stoppage was too quick,? he said as reported by news.com.au. ?He actually got hurt more against Manny Pacquiao."
?Many of the rounds were very close ... we did say with four rounds to go, just hang in there, look for the opportunity," Rushton added. "We were planning for a big finish, we wanted to bring it home really hard in the last two or three rounds but that didn?t quite happen."
Crawford is looking to fight the welterweight division?s other big names, like IBF titleholder Errol Spence Jr, WBA super champion Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, and Danny Garcia.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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