“Like I said before, I only dreamed of being a world champion. I’m an over-achiever. Nobody believed in me when I was coming up, but I made everybody a believer. I want to thank Spence and his team because without him none of this would have been possible.
Errol Spence Jr vs Terrence Crawford-Terrence Crawford
Terence Crawford (40-0 31 KOs) put forth a dominant display against fellow undefeated world champion Errol Spence Jr (28-1 22 kos). The matchup was billed as 50/50 but after Crawford landed a quick 1-2 knockdown it became evident he was superior on this night. Crawford began to counter Spence with ease and bloody him up. It was a performance that leaves no doubt as to who is number one pound for pound in boxing “Bud” is that man.
Crawford was amazingly accurate throughout he landed 50% of his total punches and 60 % of his power shots according to sho stats. Spence Jr gave it his all as he never wilted and kept pressing forward, but as he stated “he was the better man tonight”. The performance put forth by Crawford in an all elite matchup will stand up there with some of the greatest of all time.
Terence Crawford
On becoming the first male to be an undisputed champion with four belts in two divisions:
“It means everything because of who I took the belts from. They tried to blackball me. They kept me out. They talked bad about me. They said I wasn’t good enough and I couldn’t beat these welterweights. I just kept my head to the sky and kept praying to God that I would get the opportunity to show the world how great Terence Crawford is. Tonight, I believe I showed how great I am.”
On the ability to take away Spence’s jab:
“Errol Spence is a tremendous talent and he’s got a great jab. We were worried about the jab coming in because that’s how he sets up all of his shots. Our main focus was the jab. You take away his best attribute. The rest is history.”
Mike Tyson said his Crawford’s jab is like a battering ram:
“We practice that. Normally in camp we do a flick and jab. But we knew that wasn’t going to work with Errol Spence because he’s durable, he’s strong. So we had to practice a strong firm jab. The jab hit him and stopped him in his tracks.”
On the first knockdown in the second round, which represents the first in Spence’s career:
“That was more of a flash knockdown. I caught him with the left, and he didn’t think I was coming back with the right.
On the knockdown in the seventh round:
“I caught him with an uppercut that he didn’t see coming in, and then I followed up with a right hook to the ear. It knocked his equilibrium off.
On the third knockdown of the fight and second of the seventh round:
“I caught him with a double hook to the ear and he went down.”
On referee Harvey Dock stopping the fight in the ninth round:
“It was a good stoppage. I was on the verge of coming back with some hard shots. Everybody knows I’m a great finisher. The ref did what he was supposed to do to protect the fighter.”
On being among the greatest boxing champions of all time:
“I am so mixed with so many emotions, I can cry right now.”
Errol Spence Jr.
“He [came over] and said good fight. He was just better tonight. He was using the jab. My timing was a little bit off. He was just the better man tonight.
“He was just throwing the hard jab. He was timing with his jab. His timing was just on point. I wasn’t surprised by his speed or his accuracy. It was everything I thought.
“We gotta do it again. I’m going to be a lot better. It’ll be a lot closer. It’ll probably be in December and the end of the year. I say we gotta do it again. Hopefully, it will happen 154.”
