Terence Crawford became the first man to stop Shawn Porter.
Terence Crawford’s highest profile fight to date produced a high-profile finish.
Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs), the WBO welterweight champion remained undefeated with a 10th round TKO against Shawn Porter (31-4-1, 17 KOs) in what was an entertaining, back-and-forth fight at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. Crawford scored two knockdowns of Porter to turn a close fight into one where he had clear daylight over his opponent. Shawn’s dad and coach Kenny Porter made the bold and surprising (at the moment) move to throw in the towel, but Crawford is a prolific finisher and someone who pretty much always finishes the job when he has his opponent hurt.
Porter was very much looking to be aggressive and make things a bit ugly with wild exchanges and a lot of fighting on the inside and against the ropes. He did catch Crawford cleanly several times with power punches while lunging forward, but this proved to be his undoing later in the contest given the prolific nature of Crawford’s counterpunching. Crawford opted to go southpaw for almost the entire fight, and he was finding a home for his right hook and devastating lefts to the body.
Given Porter’s style combined with the orthodox vs. southpaw, we did see multiple accidental headbutts cause cuts on both men, but nothing so dangerous as to potentially stop the fight.
The pivotal moment occurred when Porter rushed forward with two wide, inaccurate punches and got put on his backside by a Crawford counter left. He beat the count but then Crawford went to work and surgically put Porter down again with a punishing right hand and a follow-up left. Porter slammed the mat in frustration, beat the count again, but Kenny Porter waved the fight off.
Official Result: Terence Crawford def. Shawn Porter by TKO, 1:21 of round 10 to remain WBO welterweight champion
At the time of the stoppage, Crawford was up 86-85, 86-85, and 87-84. So the two knockdowns really gave Porter a mountain to climb even if his dad didn’t throw in the towel. Bloody Elbow scored the fight 88-83 (Tim Burke) and 86-85 (Mookie Alexander) for Crawford.
Quite bizarrely, Kenny Porter pretty much trashed his own son’s performance by saying in the post-fight interview “He didn’t prepare like I wanted him to prepare.” Shawn felt like he could’ve continued but was otherwise classy in defeat against his friend.
As for Crawford, his reign as WBO champ continues and his status as one of the pound-for-pound best remains intact. Errol Spence Jr is the matchup everyone wants to see for him down the line but Spence bolted after the fight concluded.