With HBO and Showtime going head-to-head on Saturday night, respective headliners Terence Crawford and Leo Santa Cruz both came away with 5th round TKOs in their title defenses.
HBO and Showtime went with dueling live cards on Saturday night, even at the exact same start time of 10 PM ET/PT. The HBO main event saw WBO super lightweight (140 lbs) champion Terence Crawford (28-0, 20 KOs) successfully defend his title against Hank Lundy (26-6-1, 13 KOs) with a 5th round TKO win at MSG Theatre in Manhattan, while WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) pulled off the same feat against Kiko Martinez (35-7, 26 KOs) at Honda Center in Anaheim.
The highlight at the top of the page is of “Bud” Crawford’s win over Lundy, which was a fun bout for what was otherwise a mismatch on paper. Lundy came out strongly in the opening round but Crawford figured him out as the fight wore on, and he recorded a knockdown in the 5th round before forcing a standing stoppage against the ropes. The Nebraska native is slowly picking up a following as a potential star in boxing, but he definitely needs better competition down the line, even if it means heading up to 147 lbs.
Santa Cruz and Martinez had a hell of a first round, with LSC twice flooring the Spaniard inside of 3 minutes. Martinez rallied well and arguably scored a knockdown in round 2 when Santa Cruz’s glove touched the canvas, but it was ruled a slip. Despite Martinez’s best efforts, he was worn down by LSC’s ridiculously high workrate and punch output, and in round 5 he was hurt against the ropes and Raul Caiz Sr. eventually stopped the punishment.
Highlights of that fight, plus the astonishing 51 second knockout win for Hugo Ruiz (36-3, 32 KOs) against Julio Ceja (30-2, 27 KOs) in the Showtime co-main event, can be found in the video below. Ruiz is the new WBC super bantamweight champion, having lost to Ceja by knockout in their thrilling first meeting last August.
One other fight of note, Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) unified the IBF and WBA super bantamweight (122 lbs) belts with a split decision win over Scott Quigg (31-1-2, 23 KOs), in a fight that aired directly opposite Anderson Silva vs. Michael Bisping. Unlike Silva vs. Bisping, this fight was terrible and there are no highlights to show you.
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