LAS VEGAS — Terence Crawford dismantled Errol Spence Jr. in a tour de force performance, scoring a ninth-round TKO in the long-awaited superfight to capture the undisputed welterweight championship Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Crawford floored Spence in Round 2 and twice in Round 7, a two-fisted beatdown to wrest away the IBF, WBA and WBC 147-pound titles to go along with his WBO belt.
Crawford, 35, buckled a bloodied and swollen Spence in Round 9 and was unloading unanswered shots when referee Harvey Dock mercifully ended the punishment at 2 minutes, 32 seconds.
Spence, 33, protested the stoppage but appeared to lose every round besides the opening frame.
“Like I said before, I only dreamed of being a world champion,” said Crawford, ESPN’s No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer. “I’m an overachiever. Nobody believed in me when I was coming up, but I made everybody a believer.”
Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs), who is nicknamed “Bud,” traveled to Scotland in 2014 to win his first world title, a decision over Ricky Burns at 135 pounds. He went on to win the undisputed championship at 140 pounds and is now the first man to capture all four belts at 147 pounds.
“It means everything because of who I took the belts from,” said Crawford, who was accompanied by music superstar Eminem and his seminal hit “Lose Yourself” as he entered the ring.
Crawford was in total control of the bout beginning with Round 2, when Spence was floored for the first time in his career. Crawford used a left hand to Spence’s body that set up a southpaw jab for a flash knockdown.
Afterward, Crawford told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith that after Spence connected with a looping overhand left in the first two rounds, he thought to himself, “This is it? … It’s going to be a long night for him.”
And it certainly was, though Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) never stopped coming forward behind his steady southpaw jab. He was cut over the right eye in Round 3 and barely landed a punch of consequence the remainder of the bout.