If there was any doubt that Terence Crawford belonged in the welterweight division's elite, he erased those doubts by defeating WBO champion Jeff Horn in Crawford's welterweight debut.
Crawford dominated, dropped and stopped Horn in the ninth round of their title bout that headlined an ESPN+ card in Las Vegas. With the win, Crawford now adds a welterweight world title to his impressive resume, becoming the latest boxer to win a world title in three different weight classes, after becoming the undisputed junior welterweight champion in 2017 and becoming a lightweight world champion prior to that.
It was a complete domination by Crawford from the start of the fight, switching stances and landing numerous hard left hands to knock Horn off balance throughout the fight. At times, Horn seemed like he was going to get knocked out, but managed to hold on to the ropes and stay vertical.
The same could not be said for the eighth round when Crawford's left hand knocked Horn off balance and Horn wasn't able to avoid touching the canvas with one of his gloves. Crawford followed up the knockdown with more flurries in the ninth round until referee Robert Byrd stopped the fight with 27 seconds remaining in the round, awarding Crawford the win.
The fight wrapped up a crazy week with Horn nearly getting stripped of his title on the scales on June 8. Horn weighed in at 148 lbs., 147.5 lbs. after stripping down, but was able to get to 147 lbs. on his latest attempt, allowing Horn to keep his title for another 24 hours before Crawford beats him.
After the fight, Crawford had said in an interview that he would be up to fight some of the other champions at welterweight, which includes WBA champion Keith Thurman, IBF champion Errol Spence Jr. and the WBC title which is vacant and being contested by Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter.