Terence Crawford scores TKO, sends Shawn Porter into retirement
Terence Crawford finally scored his signature welterweight victory Saturday night at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena. The one that had eluded him the past three years and would solidify his status as the world’s top 147-pounder.
With unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. ringside, Crawford danced with his mother in the ring to the tune of Chaka Khan’s “Ain’t Nobody.”
A celebration appropiate after a resounding statement win.
Crawford (38-0, 29 knockouts) retained his WBO title by defeating former two-time welterweight champion Shawn Porter (31-4-1, 17 KOs) via technical knockout. He dropped Porter twice in the 10th round, forcing referee Celestino Ruiz to stop the fight at the request of Porter’s father and trainer, Kenny.
Shortly after the fight, Porter, 34, announced his retirement.
Porter had battled all the best welterweights, including Spence in 2019 in Los Angeles. He hadn’t been stopped until Saturday.
A crowd of 11,568 watched in wonder.
“He’s the best out of everybody I have been in the ring with,” Porter said. “He was on point, A to Z … He’s got it. Inside and outside the ring.”
Crawford established himself as one of the world’s best pound-for-pound fighters in 2017 by winning the undisputed junior welterweight championship. But his resume at welterweight was rather bleak and devoid of a top opponent.
He claimed during the promotion that he would make a statement against the rugged and dogged Porter, who applies relentless pressure to every opponent.
Statement made. With relative ease, too.
Porter stuck to the familiar script against Crawford, who remained patient amid the aggression. Crawford countered when he could and blended clean body shots around a sharp jab in an attempt to break down Porter. He finally broke through in the 10th round, dropping Porter with a short counter left.
Porter was game enough to get up, but Crawford followed with a flurry and dropped him again. The elder Porter couldn’t bear to watch his son endure any more punishment and waved a white towel, signaling the stoppage at the 1:21 mark.
Crawford was leading on all three scorecards, 87-84, 86-85, 86-85.
“He didn’t prepare like I wanted him to prepare. He fought a great fighter. It was like fighting him blindfolded,” Kenny Porter said. “Shawn was hurt. He’s a sharp fighter, and my kid was at a deficit and I couldn’t let it go on.”
Crawford, 34, has long coveted a fight with Spence and recognized that the WBC and IBF champion was in attendance. He continued to call for him after beating Porter.
A prospective fight between the two would be one of the biggest in boxing, pitting two undefeated champions against each other.
Crawford referenced Spence’s victory over Porter, a split decision that paled in comparison to what Crawford accomplished. Crawford landed 98 punches to Porter’s 79, per CompuBox. He also converted 38 percent of his power punches compared with 26 percent for Porter.
“You see what I did compared to what (Spence) did. … Who’s No. 1 in the welterweight division now?” Crawford asked rhetorically. “You know who I want; I’ve been calling him out all day — maybe Spence will get his tail out of his butt and fight me.”
Spence left the arena before Porter began his postfight interview and was seemingly dismayed by what he watched unfold in front of him. He was supposed to fight eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao in August, but was forced to withdraw with an eye injury.
It’s unclear when Spence will return to the ring, but he probably won’t fight Crawford in his first fight back.
“Shawn Porter is a real good friend of mine. I didn’t really want to fight him,” said Crawford, who has stopped his past nine opponents. “We always said we would fight each other when the time was right, and I guess the time was right for this fight to happen. I tried to fight the other champions in the division, and that didn’t happen, so I went to the next best thing.”
Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.
