He was coming off an impressive performance against errol spence vs crawford stats Spence Jr. in July 2023. In that fight, Crawford dropped Spence three times to eventually score a ninth-round TKO win at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to unify all four major welterweight world titles.

WBO officials were originally prepared to sanction the fight at face value but not as a proposed unification bout. The Puerto Rico-headquartered sanctioning body took additional measures to clarify the status of Ring champ Jermell Charlo.

The accomplishments sound impressive, but the issue along the way has been that none of those opponents was remotely close to the elite level, robbing Crawford, 34, of the opportunity to showcase how his abilities match up against a top-level challenger. It’s one thing to beat the opponents you’re expected to beat. It’s another thing to shine against the best.

Waiting for Crawford to uncoil here, but it’s still Madrimov who looks to be the more confident fighter. Ready for boos from the crowd as the fighters remain largely inactive. Crawford delivers to the body, but not much action. Crawford 68, Madrimov 65.

Round 7: Madrimov with a counter right. Not as many jabs from Crawford now. Not enough punches are being thrown in this fight. Body shots score from Bud late. I’ll give the champ around with as much confidence as I’ve had in scoring EVERY ROUND. Despite the skill level, this has been poor so far.

Round 7: Santiago’s speed advantage playing out here and Donaire has to shell up to defend against a sharp combination. Cut opens up over Santiago’s left eye after a clash of heads. Donaire sitting down on that jab, but he can’t follow up with much. Counter jab by Santiago. Two hard punches connect for Santiago. Good long jab from Santiago. He scores with an uppercut to Donaire’s body.

“It wasn’t Terence Crawford holding up the fights because I’ve been calling for it,” Crawford said. “I went in Bob Arum’s office and said, ‘Listen, give me this fight, give me this fight, this the fight I want. My two fights were Pacquiao and Spence. Those were the two fights that I was looking for. I wasn’t looking for any other fights.

Round 1: We roll on with the heavyweights. This is Ruiz’s first fight in nearly 23 months, the longest layoff of the former champ’s career. Referee Thomas Taylor is the third man in the ring. Ruiz is the clear hometown favorite with this Los Angeles crowd. Ruiz immediately jabs to the body. Very tentative first minute from both men. Lots of feeling out and distance measurement going on right now. Miller repeatedly paws out his left hand. Ruiz tosses out an overhand right but doesn’t commit. Miller unloads with a few hooks. Ruiz answers with some heavy hooks of his own! Nice shots there and that probably stole the round. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 Ruiz.

The American southpaws, both previously unbeaten, clashed to crown an undisputed welterweight champion in a bout that was years in the making. Spence, 33, carried the WBC, WBA and IBF titles into the T-Mobile Arena, while Crawford, 35, held the WBO belt, and he walked away with all four.

In 2017, Crawford had a short reign as the undisputed light welterweight champion, being the first since Kostya Tszyu in 2004, and the first in any weight class to simultaneously hold all four major world titles since Jermain Taylor in 2005. In 2023, he became the undisputed welterweight champion, the first since Zab Judah in 2006. Crawford is the one of only three male boxers in history, along with Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk), to become the undisputed champion in two weight classes in the “four-belt era”.

Spence, the naturally bigger man, won the first round by keeping Crawford at range with his jab, and was doing the same in the second but the fight turned when Spence overreached while dipping low and Crawford struck a quick-fire, left-right combination. It was more of a flash knockdown with Spence off balance, but being on the floor for the first time in his career seemed to unsettle the 33-year-old. He began chasing Crawford around the ring to reassert his presence but Crawford, two years older, was too sharp on counters.

Terence Crawford turned the most significant boxing match of the year into a bruising lesson in the sweet science, dropping Errol Spence Jr. three times en route to a ninth-round knockout on Saturday night to become the undisputed champion at 147 pounds.

On August 25, 2020, Bob Arum revealed that discussions were ongoing for Crawford to face the former IBF welterweight titlist Kell Brook, with November 14, 2020, being the targeted date. Crawford’s camp first attempted to arrange a fight with Josesito López, who however opted to face Maurice Hooker. The fight was officially announced on October 6, 2020, and was held at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Paradise, Nevada. Crawford entered the fight as a significant favorite, with most odds-makers having him as a -1439 favorite. Crawford won the fight by a fourth-round technical knockout, stopping the former IBF titlist at the 1:14 minute mark. He out-landed Brook 36 to 26 in total punches landed, and 20 to 12 in power punches landed. Brook was leading on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage, with two judges having the fight 29–28 in his favor, while the third judge awarded the same scorecard to Crawford.