Santiago stood his ground and held his own against a fighter he idolized, as he pushed and dictated the pace during the second half of the fight to win his first world title, a vacant WBC bantamweight belt.
In round seven, Crawford dropped Spence twice, once with a clean right uppercut early on and again late in the round with a right hook. Crawford led 79-70 on all three cards at the time of the stoppage and dominated the CompuBox stats with an 185 to 96 advantage in punches landed and an astounding 50% connect rate.
While 2022 may be remembered as one of boxing’s greatest years in decades in terms of the quality fights that were put on, it got better on Thursday when unbeaten welterweight champions Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford agreed to terms for a unification bout on Nov. 19 in Las Vegas.
9:03 p.m. ET: Up now is the ageless wonder, Nonito Donaire (42-7, 28 KOs), as he looks to claim the vacant WBC bantamweight championship against Alexandro Santiago (27-3-5, 14 KOs). Should the 40-year-old Donaire pull this off, he would break his own record as the oldest bantamweight champion in boxing history.
Undisputed Welterweight World Champion Terence "Bud" Crawford is not only the best fighter in the sport today, but perhaps the best of his generation, capturing the undisputed crown in two separate weight classes while accruing a Hall of Fame resume. Read Bio
As we said before the fight, there was a two-way rematch clause in the contract to be activated within 30 days by the loser, but with the winner allowed to pick the weight at which a second contest will be fought at.
In front of a star-studded crowd of 19,990, he long-anticipated showdown between Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. ended up being a brutal domination as Crawford knocked Spence down multiple times and finished the fight in dominant fashion with a 9th-round TKO.
As Cruz was getting into an offensive groove in the second half of the fight, a cautious Cabrera was throwing one punch at a time, measured and calculated rate – seemingly enough to keep the judges satisfied, as proven by the scores that were turned in.
10:32 p.m. ET: It took a few rounds but Isaac Cruz is finding Cabrera's chin with regularity as we move to the seventh round. "Pitbull" is finding the target with hooks as Cabrera has given up his space. The way this is going, it may not be much longer for Cruz to secure the stoppage.
"It's so much that goes into making a megafight like this that nobody understands. They think that two fighters just agree and bam, here you have it. But there's a lot of missed detail that goes into making a megafight that a lot of people don't know and don't understand. And then they fault the fighters for not taking the fight because things wasn't right in the contract."
"This fight is happening at the right time," Crawford said at his own media workout last week in Las Vegas. "All the belts are on the line, so there's even more to fight for. What better way to have this fight than to have it for the undisputed welterweight title?"
Terence Crawford has done it all in the boxing and his Hall of Fame status is already secure. Still, the American wants to add to his trophy case again and will challenge Israil Madrimov for the WBA super welterweight title at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on August 3.
"To be honest, I never wanted to be an Olympic gold medalist," Crawford said. "Midge and BoMac, they wanted me to stay in the amateurs and win a gold medal because they know how tough it is coming out of Nebraska. I wanted to be a world champion."
Porter comes out looking to get a little more aggressive but Crawford beats him to the punch by getting off first. Left hook misses for Crawford. Double jab from crawford fight live falls short. Porter leaps in with a hook that doesn’t land. Right hook from Porter just barely misses. Now Porter touches the body with his right hand. Jab lands for Porter up top. Porter comes forward and Crawford tries to meet him with punches. Counter uppercut from Crawford make partial contact. Crawford lands a body shot to end the round.
"You’re supposed to be in the house getting ready for a fight, and you're out here shooting dice and getting shot. You hang with those types of people, that's what happens. Ever since then, I've got a purpose. I could’ve been dead at that moment."
A power-punching pressure fighter, Avanesyan (29-3-1, 17 KOs) owns a 2016 win over a well-past-his-prime version of Hall of Famer Shane Mosley. With an expected victory over Avanesyan, the European welterweight champion, Crawford could move onto the long-awaited matchup with Spence.
11:00 p.m. ET: It wasn't great but Isaac Cruz is likely going to take a wide decision over Cabrera. It was ugly at times and Cabrera being undefeated heading into this fight is pretty astonishing. But it's over and the energy in the arena is beginning to swell. It's almost time.
The moment @terencecrawford became UNDISPUTED CHAMPION OF THE WORLD The referee calls a stop to the fight in the 9th, as Terence Crawford defeats Errol Spence Jr to sit alone at the top of the division. #SpenceCrawford pic.twitter.com/b2yIkj8QAr
In round seven, Crawford dropped Spence twice, once with a clean right uppercut early on and again late in the round with a right hook. Crawford led 79-70 on all three cards at the time of the stoppage and dominated the CompuBox stats with an 185 to 96 advantage in punches landed and an astounding 50% connect rate.
While 2022 may be remembered as one of boxing’s greatest years in decades in terms of the quality fights that were put on, it got better on Thursday when unbeaten welterweight champions Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford agreed to terms for a unification bout on Nov. 19 in Las Vegas.
9:03 p.m. ET: Up now is the ageless wonder, Nonito Donaire (42-7, 28 KOs), as he looks to claim the vacant WBC bantamweight championship against Alexandro Santiago (27-3-5, 14 KOs). Should the 40-year-old Donaire pull this off, he would break his own record as the oldest bantamweight champion in boxing history.
Undisputed Welterweight World Champion Terence "Bud" Crawford is not only the best fighter in the sport today, but perhaps the best of his generation, capturing the undisputed crown in two separate weight classes while accruing a Hall of Fame resume. Read Bio
As we said before the fight, there was a two-way rematch clause in the contract to be activated within 30 days by the loser, but with the winner allowed to pick the weight at which a second contest will be fought at.
In front of a star-studded crowd of 19,990, he long-anticipated showdown between Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. ended up being a brutal domination as Crawford knocked Spence down multiple times and finished the fight in dominant fashion with a 9th-round TKO.
As Cruz was getting into an offensive groove in the second half of the fight, a cautious Cabrera was throwing one punch at a time, measured and calculated rate – seemingly enough to keep the judges satisfied, as proven by the scores that were turned in.
10:32 p.m. ET: It took a few rounds but Isaac Cruz is finding Cabrera's chin with regularity as we move to the seventh round. "Pitbull" is finding the target with hooks as Cabrera has given up his space. The way this is going, it may not be much longer for Cruz to secure the stoppage.
"It's so much that goes into making a megafight like this that nobody understands. They think that two fighters just agree and bam, here you have it. But there's a lot of missed detail that goes into making a megafight that a lot of people don't know and don't understand. And then they fault the fighters for not taking the fight because things wasn't right in the contract."
"This fight is happening at the right time," Crawford said at his own media workout last week in Las Vegas. "All the belts are on the line, so there's even more to fight for. What better way to have this fight than to have it for the undisputed welterweight title?"
Terence Crawford has done it all in the boxing and his Hall of Fame status is already secure. Still, the American wants to add to his trophy case again and will challenge Israil Madrimov for the WBA super welterweight title at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on August 3.
"To be honest, I never wanted to be an Olympic gold medalist," Crawford said. "Midge and BoMac, they wanted me to stay in the amateurs and win a gold medal because they know how tough it is coming out of Nebraska. I wanted to be a world champion."
Porter comes out looking to get a little more aggressive but Crawford beats him to the punch by getting off first. Left hook misses for Crawford. Double jab from crawford fight live falls short. Porter leaps in with a hook that doesn’t land. Right hook from Porter just barely misses. Now Porter touches the body with his right hand. Jab lands for Porter up top. Porter comes forward and Crawford tries to meet him with punches. Counter uppercut from Crawford make partial contact. Crawford lands a body shot to end the round.
"You’re supposed to be in the house getting ready for a fight, and you're out here shooting dice and getting shot. You hang with those types of people, that's what happens. Ever since then, I've got a purpose. I could’ve been dead at that moment."
A power-punching pressure fighter, Avanesyan (29-3-1, 17 KOs) owns a 2016 win over a well-past-his-prime version of Hall of Famer Shane Mosley. With an expected victory over Avanesyan, the European welterweight champion, Crawford could move onto the long-awaited matchup with Spence.
11:00 p.m. ET: It wasn't great but Isaac Cruz is likely going to take a wide decision over Cabrera. It was ugly at times and Cabrera being undefeated heading into this fight is pretty astonishing. But it's over and the energy in the arena is beginning to swell. It's almost time.
The moment @terencecrawford became UNDISPUTED CHAMPION OF THE WORLD The referee calls a stop to the fight in the 9th, as Terence Crawford defeats Errol Spence Jr to sit alone at the top of the division. #SpenceCrawford pic.twitter.com/b2yIkj8QAr