Terence Crawford finally secured the statement victory he had been seeking, stopping Shawn Porter in the tenth round to retain his WBO welterweight world title in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) was pushed to the limit by Porter, but made the pivotal breakthrough in the tenth round, dropping ‘Showtime’ twice, before his father and trainer, Kenny Porter signalled to referee Celestino Ruiz to stop the fight at the Michelob Ultra Arena.
Porter (31-4-1, 17 KOs) was vying to become a three-time welterweight champion, but suffered the first stoppage defeat and his fourth professional loss and subsequently confirmed his retirement from the sport in his post-fight press conference.
The Ohio native was viewed as Crawford’s toughest opponent in his professional career, let alone at welterweight and their well-publicised friendship outside of the ring was momentarily put on hold, as Porter made his presence known from the opening bell, swinging out of the blocks with vigour, as ‘Bud’ began in the orthodox stance and analysed the threat.
Crawford switched to southpaw as early as the second round and upped the ante, although Porter remained very much in the argument, as the pair traded blow for blow.
‘Showtime’ was cut by the right eye in the third round, following an accidental head clash, but had further success with his relentless pressure, which was proving effective.
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Three-weight world champion, Crawford targeted his opponent’s body in the fourth with accuracy, yet Porter was sneaking in attacks on the inside and switching up his rhythm to keep the champion thinking.
The clash appeared close at the halfway stage, with Porter using his head movement effectively and the betting favourite sustained a cut above his right eye himself, with the bout turning into a slugfest.
Porter, who had previously beaten the likes of Yordenis Ugas and Danny Garcia, caught the unbeaten Nebraska native with a hard right hand on the ropes in the seventh, although ‘Bud’ was giving as good as he got, edging the round with accurate left hands towards the end.
THEY’RE ALREADY SWINGING 🤯#CrawfordPorter PPV: https://t.co/EOg8FcXj8F pic.twitter.com/36YYsMgCze
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) November 21, 2021
Porter’s overhand rights, a key weapon of his arsenal, were landing in response to ‘Bud’ letting his hands go in the eighth, as both men refused to relent.
Crawford seemed to have established a slight lead by the end of the ninth in another close round, however in the tenth round he found the breakthrough.
The 34-year-old appeared to sense the scores were close and came out in the tenth round with a sense of urgency and after Porter missed wildly, Crawford countered with a left uppercut, which dropped him to the deck.
HERE COMES BUD.@terencecrawford drops Shawn Porter in R10 🥶#CrawfordPorter ESPN+ PPV: https://t.co/EOg8FcXj8F pic.twitter.com/9lYpNJMlUD
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) November 21, 2021
Porter rose bravely and composed himself briefly, but was punished with a brutal right hand after connecting with a left of his own. Crawford detonated two more left hands, with the second dropping Porter for the second time, who slammed the canvas several times in frustration.
The 34-year-old once again got up and told the referee he was able to continue, however his father and trainer, with the towel in hand called for the referee to wave off the fight.
Porter’s father, Kenny said his son was not in a position to defend himself and highlighted his preparation as a key factor in his decision to pull him out.
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For Crawford, he made a fifth defence of the title he claimed with victory over Jeff Horn in 2018 and he once again called for a unification with unified WBC and IBF titlist, Errol Spence Jr who beat Porter by split decision in 2019.
Spence Jr, who has reportedly been cleared to resume training after having surgery on a detached retina which ruled him out of facing Manny Pacquiao in August, was ringside for the clash, but was pictured leaving the venue moments after the fight had ended.
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Crawford’s contract with Top Rank came to an end with this fight and he said in his post-fight press conference a decision on his promotional future had been made, stating, “Bob [Arum] couldn’t secure me the [Errol] Spence fight when I was with him, so how is he gonna secure me the Spence fight when I’m not with him? I’m moving forward with my career.”
All three judges had ‘Bud’ ahead at the time of the stoppage, by margins of 87-84, 86-85, 86-85.
Undercard
On the undercard, Esquiva Falcao came off worst from a head clash and won by technical decision against against Patrice Volny following six rounds at middleweight.
Undefeated Kazakh, Zhanibek Alimkhanuly dropped former world champion, Hassan N’Dam in the third round before stopping the Frenchman in the eighth round of their middleweight contest.
At featherweight, former world champion Isaac Dogboe edged Christopher Diaz by majority decision, whilst Raymond Muratalla halted Elias Damian Araujo in five rounds at lightweight.
Adam Lopez and Adan Ochoa were held to a technical draw in their rematch at featherweight, whilst super featherweight Carlos Balderas stopped Julio Cortez in four rounds.
2020 US Olympian, Delante Johnson was successful on his professional debut securing a final round stoppage over Antonius Grable.
