Terence Crawford Fight Weight
It is Crawford’s first fight since last July, when he produced arguably one of the greatest performances in recent boxing memory with a one-sided, systematic, ruthless nine-round beatdown of Errol Spence Jr in Las Vegas that saw him become the first undisputed welterweight champion of the four-belt era, having also previously been undisputed at light-welterweight.
Backing up Crawford and Madrimov is a lineup with several notable names, including former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz (35-2, 22 KOs) taking on Jarrell Miller (26-1-1, 22 KOs), and Isaac Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KOs) defending his WBA super lightweight title against Jose Venezuela (13-2, 9 KOs).
In the U.K., Crawford vs Porter is available on Sky Sports, which can be watched on many U.K. cable systems. It can also be streamed online with a Now TV Sky Sports Pass. Coverage begins at 2 a.m. local time and the Main Event should start approximately 4 a.m. local time.
"It means everything because of who won the crawford fight tonight I took the belts from," he says. "They tried to blackball me. They kept me out. They talked bad about me. They said I wasn’t good enough and I couldn’t beat these welterweights. I just kept my head to the sky and kept praying to God that I would get the opportunity to show the world how great Terence Crawford is. Tonight, I believe I showed how great I am."
A power-punching pressure fighter, Avanesyan (29-3-1, 17 KOs) owns a 2016 win over a well-past-his-prime version of Hall of Famer Shane Mosley. With an expected victory over Avanesyan, the European welterweight champion, Crawford could move onto the long-awaited matchup with Spence.
If there's a perfect Crawford moment, however, it came last February as his 2-year-old daughter approached the ring apron at the B&B gym. Talaya -- Lay Lay, as she's called -- was determined to get her father's attention.
It’s really a time for celebration, as this is a major fight that is happening while the fighters are unquestionably in their primes. Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, for instance, met in 2015 when both were past their primes. Would the fight have been more compelling or the outcome different if they’d fought in 2010? No one will know, but there’s an argument to be made that the answer to both questions is yes.
Interesting opening round. Spence pushed the action much of the three minutes, jabbing (although he didn’t land many) and targeting Crawford’s body. He probably won the round. However, neither guy landing anything of consequence.
The Crawford-Porter fight card broadcast will begin at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV. The PPV card includes 4 fights, with an IBF middleweight eliminator between Esquiva Falcao and Patrice Volny as the co-main event. The prelim card will air live on ESPN2 and ESPN+ starting at 7 p.m. ET, and the early prelims on @ESPN at 6 p.m. ET.
Crawford became a three-weight world champion in front of 8,112 fans in attendance after he eventually stopped Horn via TKO in round nine. At the time of the stoppage, all three judges had Crawford winning all the previous rounds. Horn lacked defense but kept coming forward, trying to look for an opening. Horn made the opening two rounds the most competitive with his aggressive style but Crawford adapted and remained the busier fighter throughout, landing the most telling shots of the bout. Horn was eventually dropped for the first time in round nine with an overhand left. After he got back up, Crawford landed a series of hard shots that caused referee Robert Byrd to stop the fight. The official time of the stoppage was 2 minutes and 33 seconds. After the bout, Crawford spoke about his welterweight debut, "Like I told you all before, I'm strong. I was way stronger than him. You all kept telling me how strong he was, so I had to go and show you. I just had to get in the ring and prove it. You saw what I did in there. My power carried up, my physicality. Now I want all the champions at welterweight." Promoter Bob Arum highly praised Crawford and compared him to Sugar Ray Leonard. According to CompuBox stats, Crawford landed 155 of 367 of punches thrown (42%). This included 47 power shots landed over the final two rounds. Horn, on the other hand, landed just 58 of 257 punches thrown (23%). Crawford earned a career-high $3 million purse and Horn also earned a career-high purse of $1.75 million.
Madrimov is a talented undefeated fighter who has parlayed his top-tier European amateur success into a 10-0-1 record and a world championship. A win for Madrimov would make him one of the most talked about fighters in the sport and also move him into consideration for huge fights down the road.
Round Four: Crawford lands a pair of left hands. Spence trying to muscle forward. Crawford goes to work. Spence gets on the inside and lands to the body and head. Uppercut from Spence lands clean. Crawford with a combination. Big overland left from Bud hurts Spence. Here he comes! He's all over Spence. Spence backs him off with a jab. They exchange hooks. Bud is STRONG. Hard right hand from Bud moves Spence back. Crawford is advancing on Spence now. He's starting to takeover this fight in a big way.