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WBO welterweight world champion Terence “Bud” Crawford (38-0, 19 KO’s) of Nebraska scored the biggest win of his career by scoring a tenth-round knockout over two-time champion “Showtime” Shawn Porter (31-4-1, 17 KO’s) of Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday night at the Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Porter came out aggressive going right at Crawford in the opening bell in what was a very busy round for Porter. In the second, Crawford worked the jab, but Porter connected with a solid right, the champ returned with some solid counters. A vicious exchange in round three saw Crawford and Porter trade solid punches, however an accidental headbutt caused a cut on Porter’s right eye. Crawford kept his distance jabbing and countering but Porter kept coming despite being cut the previous round.
A counter left by Crawford in the fifth landed solidly but Porter kept coming swarming the champ. Crawford was on the offensive to start round six as he backed Porter, later in the round Crawford was on the receiving end of a head butt but appeared to have no cut, Porter made it a rough round for Crawford. Halfway through in the seventh, it was obvious Porter was being challenged as Porter kept bringing it. The eighth round began with an exchange in the center of the ring, Porter came right at Crawford as the champ boxed from the distance and countered Porter’s intensity, later in the round Porter connected with an over hand right that got Crawford’s attention.
In the ninth, Crawford kept his distance sticking the jab with Porter lurking his way inside Crawford countered, in what was a dominant round for the champ. A counter left hook by Crawford to start the tenth sat Porter down as he got up, shortly after Crawford was on the offensive as he dropped Porter a second time. Porter’s corner/father advised the referee to stop the fight at 1:21 of the tenth.
I figured that I had the reach and he had to take chances to come him and he did what he normally does. He tried to maul and push me back but I used my angles and I pushed him back at times as well. Shawn Porter is a slick fighter he was doing some things in there and made me think,"
I know I caught him with a good uppercut and then when I caught him with another left hook clean in his face that he was real hurt and his dad did the right thing by stopping it because I was coming with a vengeance.
Spence was at my fight? No that boy said he was never gonna be at my fights but now he’s at my fights. You see what I did compared to what he did.
Now wait, my thing is, who’s No. 1 in the welterweight division now?
"You know who I want I’ve been calling him out al day – maybe Spence will get his tail out of his butt and fight me,"
"I look at all of us we are all great and we are all talented, we all have different styles and at the end of the day as longh was you get the victory that’s all that matters,"
"I love him. Shawn Porter is a real good friend of mine. I didn’t really want to fight him. We always said we would fight each other whe 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,"
In the co-feature IBF middleweight title eliminator, undefeated Esquiva “La Pantera” Falcao (29-0, 16 KO’s) won a sixth-round technical decision over Patrice Volny (16-1, 10 KO’s). Falcao applied pressure early on as Volny fought from a distance. The Brazilian outworked Volny, boxing patiently as the momentum was in his favor the early half of the fight. An accidental headbutt in the sixth by Volny split open a cut on the left eye of Falcao could not continue due to the cut. After completing more than four rounds the judges scored the bout 58-57 Falcao, 58-56 Falcao, and 58-56 Volney.
Unbeaten WBO #2, WBC #4, IBF #9 middleweight Janibek “Qazaq Style” Alimkhanuly (11-0, 7 KOs) scored an eighth round TKO over former world champion Hassan N’Dam (38-6, 21 KOs). Alimkhanuly stalked from start as N’Dam kept his distance and stayed away. In round two, the Kazakh connected with a short compact left hook as N’Dam fought off his back foot. In the third, Janinek scored a knockdown and continued his dominance. Later in the fight, Alimkhanuly had his way pounding N’Dam until referee Kenny Bayless had seen enough and stopped the fight at 2:40. N’Dam not happy about the stoppage.
Opening the ESPN+ pay per view card lightweight Raymond “Danger” Muratalla of Fontana, California (12-0, 10 KO’s) stopped Elias “El Macho” Araujo (21-4, 8 KO’s) of Argentina. Muratalla connected with a snapping uppercut in the opening round. The Argentinian Araujo applied pressure in round two, but Muratalla boxed well connecting with combinations. Working the jab in round three, Muratalla peppered away Araujo as he kept coming. Boxing effectively and working patiently, Muratalla kept scoring with the jab and countering Araujo’s pressure with solid punches as the Argentinian began to bleed from his nose profusely as the referee stepped in to stop the fight at 2:20 of the fifth. Araujo was extremely disappointed.
Former world champion Isaac “Royal Storm” Dogboe (23-2, 15 KO’s) of Ghana and Puerto Rico’s Christopher “Pitufo” Diaz (26-4, 16 KOs) went the distance ten rounds. It was a competitive fight as Dogboe and Ochoa battled it out the whole way. The first half of the fight saw Diaz control the fight boxing well and effectively. Dogboe was busier and dictated the pace in the second half of the fight. It was a close late in the fight, Diaz and Dogboe sensed the urgency in the tenth and final round. In the end, the judges scored the fight 97-93, 96-94, in favor of Dogboe and one judge scored it a draw 95-95.
Southern Californian featherweights Glendale, California’s Adam “Bluenose” Lopez and Adan Ochoa of Compton, California squared off in their rematch, but the bout was declared a no decision after two rounds. Lopez and Ochoa exchanged from the opening bell, Ochoa suffered a cut over his right eye from an accidental head butt. Between rounds two and three it was deemed that Ochoa could not continue and the bout was called off.
Super featherweight, 2016 U.S Olympian Karlos Balderas (11-1, 10 KOs) of Santa Maria, California stopped Julio Cortez (15-4, 11 KOs) of Ecuador. Balderas connected with a solid right hand in the closing seconds of round one that knocked Cortez’s mouthpiece out. The 2016 Olympian was dominant as he pummeled Cortez the referee Raul Caiz Jr. stepped in to stop the fight at 2:13 of the fourth.
Making his professional debut U.S. Olympian welterweight Tiger Johnson (1-0, 1 KO) of Cleveland, Ohio scored a fourth round knockout over Antonious Grabel (3-2,-1 3 KO) of Sarasota, Florida in opening the action from the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Johnson was impressive throughout the fight and suffered a cut from a head butt in the third. Johnson scored a knockdown in the final round and stunned him as the referee stepped in to stop the fight 1:54 of the fourth round.
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