Terence Crawford did as most expected him to on Saturday night, dominating Hank Lundy while defending his WBO Junior Welterweight title via fifth-round stoppage at the 2:09 mark in the main event of HBO’s World Championship Boxing doubleheader at The Theater at Madison Square Garden.
“He caught me with a good shot on the top of my head and threw my equilibrium off. I just couldn’t recover,” Lundy said.
“We knew we could box him. We saw some flaws and attacked them. I feel as though they should’ve let it go on a bit longer. They saw I was getting to him a little bit.
“This is boxing,” Lundy continued. “I’m a warrior. I don’t think it should’ve been stopped. I want to go out on my shield. I’m a Philadelphia guy. You’ve got to knock me out.”
Fighting for a world title for the first time in his career, Lundy (26-6-1) got off to a much better start than he did in his previous televised bouts against Thomas Dulorme and Mauricio Herrera, landing early and often with the left hand in the opening round to take the quick lead on Crawford.
The tide began to turn in the second round when Crawford (28-0, 21 KOs) switched from his conventional stance to southpaw and kept Lundy at the end of his right jab. Crawford’s height advantage and reach allowed the undefeated champion to control the pace over the next three rounds with Lundy forced to lunge toward his opponent in an effort to work closer to the body.
Lundy actually opened the fifth round with a clean left hook upstairs, but Crawford didn’t budge. Moments later, the champion clipped Lundy on the top of the head with a left hook of his own, throwing Lundy off balance. Sensing his opponent was dazed, Crawford picked up the pace and landed another hard left upstairs that sent Lundy to the canvas.
Lundy made it back to his feet, but Crawford continued to apply pressure. With Lundy fighting valiantly off the ropes, Crawford backed him into the corner and unloaded with a series of unanswered flurries, forcing referee Steve Willis to stop the bout.
“Most of these guys, the come in here and they curl up. I came to fight,” Lundy said. “I want to go out on my shield. That’s that die-hard in me. I was aware of everything. I still wanted to continue the fight. He caught me with a good shot, but I’m coming to fight.”
Lundy has lost 3 of his 4 bouts, including a controversial technical decision against Herrera in July and a split-decision loss to Dulorme in December of 2014 in Brooklyn. Crawford has now successfully defended his title five times with four of those wins coming by knockout.
In earlier action, Felix Verdejo won a decision over 10 rounds against the previous unbeaten Brazilian William Silva.
