Lightweight Terence Crawford

1 lightweight

1.1 career
1.2 crawford vs. klimov
1.3 crawford vs. burns
1.4 crawford vs. gamboa
1.5 crawford vs. beltran

lightweight
early career

crawford made professional debut on march 14, 2008, knocking out brian cummings in round 1. compiled record of 19-0 15 wins way of knockout against largely unheralded opposition.

crawford had first notable bout on undercard of second fight between brandon rios , mike alvarado, against former wbo lightweight champion breidis prescott. prescott scheduled face wba light welterweight champion khabib allakhverdiev, withdrew injured elbow. crawford supposed meet robert osiobe on same card, accepted offer fill in allakhverdiev on three-days notice. crawford nevertheless outboxed hard hitting colombian , secured unanimous decision victory. crawford received purse of $125,000, whilst prescott received $50,000. first time crawford fought 10-round fight , first time fighting @ 140 lb. limit.

crawford fought alejandro sanabria on june 15, 2013. held @ american airlines center in dallas, texas, usa, fight served eliminator wbo world lightweight title , vacant wbo nabo lightweight title. in 6th round, crawford landed devastating left hook, sending sanabria canvas. though sanabria able return feet within count, fight waved off referee laurence cole, giving crawford tko victory.

crawford vs. klimov

on august 21, 2013 announced crawford fight undefeated russian boxer , wbo #12 ranked andrey klimov in elimination bout, see winner challenge wbo champion ricky burns. fight scheduled 10 rounds , took place on undercard of miguel cotto vs. delvin rodriguez fight card on hbo @ amway center in orlando, florida on october 5. klimov coming off majority decision win on fringe contender john molina jr. in june 2013. crawford outclassed , outpointed klimov, handing him first defeat professional in unanimous decision win. after 10 rounds, 3 judges scored fight 100-90 in crawford s favour. there lack of action klimov failed impress , go in offence. according compubox stats, crawford landed 192 of 604 punches (32%), whilst klimov landed 57 of 290 (20%). in post fight, crawford spoke on how went in got job done, outboxed him. easy night long. thought hurting him night long. never in trouble , thought in trouble. due klimov s lack of action, prompted member of team call him coward after round 8 in corner. klimov began come forward , exchange more after round 9, had no chance of winning without knockout.

crawford vs. burns

crawford traveled scotland 5 months later take on 30 year old ricky burns wbo lightweight title on march 1, 2014. hearn pleased bring fight scotland, , admitted burns toughest fight date. crawford won fight, boxing on outside , picking shots against over-matched game burns, winning first world title. judges scored fight 17-111, 116-112 , 116-112 unanimously in favour of crawford. burns praised crawford after fight, stating, better man won. on 12 rounds, crawford credited landing 213 of 811 punches thrown (26%) landed 41% of power punches. burns landed 76 of 552 thrown (14%) , landed no more 7 power punches per round.

crawford vs. gamboa

fighting first time professional in hometown of omaha, nebraska, crawford made first title defense against 2004 cuban olympic gold medalist , former unified featherweight titleholder yuriorkis gamboa, slight favourite going fight. second title fight ever held in omaha, first being in 1972, when heavyweight champion joe frazier defeated omaha/council bluffs product ron stander 4th-round tko. gamboa entered having not fought in on year. arrested in november 2 misdemeanor battery charges domestic violence , during span implicated in biogenesis performance-enhancing drug scandal engulfed major league baseball. fight announced on may 6 , took place @ centurylink center on june 28, 2014. crawford weighed in 134.8 pounds, heavier gamboa @ 134.4 pounds.

gamboa won rounds using speed advantage, crawford adjusted, knocking gamboa down once in 5th round, again in 8th, , twice in 9th secure tko win in front of 10,943 screaming hometown fans. crawford stated after fight warming up, getting used style in first couple of rounds. wanted test him out, felt make adjustment jab, because s dropping left hand. thought him jab in southpaw stance. @ time of stoppage, crawford ahead 78-72, 78-72, 77-73 on judges scorecards. in interview in july 2016, crawford stated gamboa still toughest fight date.

crawford vs. beltran

held in front of 11,127 @ centurylink center in omaha, nebraska, crawford made second defense of wbo title against ring magazine #1 contender ray beltran on november 29, 2014. winner of bout become ring s lightweight champion. crawford retained world title earning 12-round unanimous decision win. final judges scorecards read 119-109 (twice) , 120-108 in favour of crawford. after fight, crawford announced intentions leave lightweight division fight light welterweight. fight averaged averaged 836,000 viewers on hbo , peaked @ 936,000 viewers. considered disappointment because co-feature saw evgeny gradovich draw jayson velez drew average 865,000 viewers , peaked on 1 million.

crawford named 2014 fighter of year espn , boxing writers association of america, after dethroning burns , becoming lineal lightweight champion.