By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
There will be no strap season happening in the sport of boxing.
It’s snatch season.
What was predicted to be a 50/50 close match in the most anticipated welterweight unification bout went down to a one-sided beating as Terence “Bud” Crawford pulled off a ninth-round technical knockout victory to hand Errol Spence Jr. his first loss in his entire professional career last July 30, 2023, held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
With the huge victory, Crawford extended his undefeated streak to 40 wins and is now the newly-crowned WBO, WBC, WBA, and IBF undisputed welterweight champion of the world.
Many didn’t expect the outcome of this match to become a dominant beat down but one thing for sure stood out in front of the thousands in attendance in Las Vegas.
Crawford is a different beast.
Despite conceding the opening round as Spence stuck to his signature calculated pressure fighting style backstopped by his precise jabs from the distance, Crawford was quick to retaliate in the following frame after unleashing several left-right combinations.
Crawford then scored the first knockdown of the fight with only 20 seconds left in the second round after hitting Spence with a clean right-flick jab.
As Crawford moved forward to apply pressure, Spence was able to escape further damage as the official match bell rang heading to the third round.
It was an exact start for Spence in the third after throwing a barrage of jabs while dictating the tempo, hounding pressure on Crawford as he cut the distance.
Known to be a slow starter in his previous fights, Crawford changed the complexion of the fight after unleashing more combinations that tagged Spence in the last minute of the third.
It was all Crawford since taking the momentum of the fight in the second round as his accurate counter-punching and quick jabs disoriented Spence’s hounding pressure.
It was a masterpiece. From round four-eight, Crawford just bullied Spence with his all-around efficiency, tallying his total power punch percentage to 58% in just eight rounds.
Crawford went all in in the seventh round after putting down Spence to the canvass two times. The first one was with only two minutes left using a snappy right uppercut while the next came in the last three seconds via a vicious right hook.
Fans went crazy in Las Vegas after witnessing Spence get knocked down thrice after 28 consecutive wins since entering the professional scene last 2012.
As the ninth round approached, the Crawford supporters began to stand up as Spence got battered by consecutive combinations. With only 40 seconds left, Bud unleashed the undisputed-clinching eight-punch streak that forced the bout referee to stop the fight.
Seconds after savoring the historic victory, Crawford stood in the ropes to acknowledge all that came out to support his campaign to become the unified welterweight champion of the world.
