On Saturday night, Terence Bud Crawford left no doubt that he is one of the best boxers on the planet with a third round knock out of Julius Indongo. The powerful body shot that felled the Namibian champion made Crawford the first undisputed world champion in 12 years.
Crawford walked into the ring with as the WBC and WBO champion and left with the WBA and IBF titles in front of a sold out crowd in his home state Nebraska. Former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor was the last man to hold all four major sanctioning body belts in 2005.
“It means everything,” said Crawford in the post-fight interview. “When you start boxing when you’re seven years old, that’s your dream to become world champion – and after that you want to become something bigger than world champion.”
Terence Crawford vs Julius Indongo FULL FIGHT HD
Terence Crawford vs Julius Indongo FULL FIGHT HD Terence Crawford vs Julius Indongo FULL FIGHT HD Terence Crawford vs Julius Indongo FULL FIGHT HD
Crawford (32-0) showed a quick sharpness that greatly contrasted the stiff wide shots thrown by Indongo. The beginning of the end came in the second round when Crawford knocked Indongo down with a right to the body.
It was downhill from there for Indongo whose unblemished record was eliminated with a powerful left hook to the chest sent him to the canvas as he failed to beat the count.
Crawford now joins champions like Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano, George Foreman, Evander Holyfield, Joe Frazier, Michael Spinks, and Mike Tyson who were all undefeated with all major belts in their division.
Ironically, on the commentary team of the ESPN broadcast was Andre Ward, who held color commentary duties with Teddy Atlas. Ward is currently number one on many critics pound-for-pound list, however, Crawfords win makes him arguably number one.
Atlas listed Vasyl Lomachenko as number one on his pound-for-pound list, but with only 10 professional fights and one loss, it is hard to argue that Buds 32 fights and champion status in two weight classes puts him below Lomachenko.
When you throw in Wards Olympic gold medal and his pristine 32-0 record as a two-weight class champion, it is clear the two are neck and neck.
Terence Crawford’s Greatest Hits (HBO) | November 9, 2014
Take an up-close look at the career of rising star Terence Crawford. The CRAWFORD- BELTRAN World Lightweight Championship happens at 10p ET/PT at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska on HBO “Boxing After Dark.” For fight updates, visit WWW.TOPRANK.COM, Facebook at FACEBOOK.COM/TRBOXING and Twitter at TWITTER.COM/TRBOXING and TWITTER/TRBOXEO.
However, being undisputed is not an easy accomplishment and Crawford has literally cleaned out every division he has been in. With the welterweight division next on his hit list, it is almost certain he will fight the winner of Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn if they rematch, as speculated for November.
Pacquiao, like Crawford, is a Top Rank fighter and it would give Crawford the biggest payday of his career.
With the deeper portions of the division under the Premier Boxing Champions banner, Crawford being a welterweight is enticing, but only if he can fight names like Errol Spence Jr., Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia and eventually Keith Thurman.
