LAS VEGAS – Terrence Crawford stopped Shawn Porter in the 10th round by technical knockout in one of the most anticipated bouts of the year to retain WBO welterweight championship.
Crawford (38-0) retained his WBO welterweight title and extended his streak of stoppages to nine in front of a sold-out crowd of 11,568 at Mandalay Bay.
Crawford knocked down Porter early in the 10th round with a left uppercut and then delivered an exclamation point with a devastating right hook to the temple, followed by a left hook to the face.
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Porter´s trainer and father, Kenny, threw in the towel and called for referee Celestino Ruiz to stop the fight. Porter stunned reporters by announcing his retirement from boxing at his post-fight press conference.
“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,” Crawford said according to AP.
“I didn´t really want to fight him. We always said we would fight each other when the time was right and I guess the time was right for this fight to happen.”
Crawford was ahead on all three of the judges´ scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Dave Moretti and Steve Weisfeld had Crawford leading 86-85, while Max De Luca had him ahead 87-84.
Porter (31-4-1), who has risen to become a legitimate top-five welterweight, and was easily the best opponent of Crawford´s career, displayed relentless aggression in the early rounds.
Crawford´s switch-hitting flex didn´t necessarily work when he turned to southpaw early in the fight, as Porter adjusted accordingly and connected often.
“Shawn Porter is a slick fighter. He was doing some things in there and made me think,” Crawford said. “I can´t say nothing bad about him.”
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After playing defense and smiling more than punching, Crawford finally showed signs of offense in the sixth round and came alive in the ninth and 10th rounds – the final two rounds, as it turned out, of Porter’s career.
“I´m prepared to retire,” Porter said. “I was prepared to announce my retirement tonight – win, lose or draw. Even if it was a draw, we had a date. They were telling us we were going to have to do it again. I was not going to do it again. I am announcing my retirement right now.”
On the undercard, Esquiva Falcao (29-0) beat Patrice Volny (16-1) by way of a technical decision at 2:18 of the sixth round, after the fight was stopped because of an inadvertent head butt. Janibek Alimkhanuly (11-0) remained undefeated with an eighth-round TKO over Hassan N´Dam (38-6).
Adam Lopez (15-3) and Adan Ochoa (12-2) fought to a no-decision. The bout was stopped due to a cut to Ochoa caused by a headbutt. Karlos Balderas (11-1) scored his second straight KO win with a fourth-round TKO over Julio Cortez (15-4). In his pro debut, Tiger Johnson had a fourth-round TKO over Antonius Grable (3-2-1).