Terence Crawford vs. Errol Spence Jr.: LIVE round-by-round updates, results, full coverage

Terence Crawford knocked out Errol Spence at 2:32 of the ninth round to become the first man to win the undisputed 147-pound championship and capture all four major titles in a second division.

A fight that was thought to be a 50-50 matchup turned out to be a wipe out.

Crawford dominated Spence beginning int he second round, when he put Spence down for the first of three times. He also dropped Spence twice in Round 7, when it appeared that Spence had little chance to win.

Crawford was simply too quick, clever, too good for his fellow pound-for-pounder, as if he was fighting a journeyman.

Fighting as a southpaw, he hurt Spence multiple times with his right jab and counterpunched brilliantly throughout to bloody Spence’s face and break him down.

Spence never stopped trying, throwing big bombs in an attempt to turn the tide. However, even when they landed, Crawford took them and kept coming.

Crawford turned in one of the greatest performances in recent years given the respect Spence had going into the fight and the stakes; it might’ve been the most important fight since Floyd Mayweather outpointed Manny Pacquiao in 2015.

You can read a full report here.

Round 9

The fight is stopped!! Crawford was landing shot after shot, prompting referee Harvey Dock to save Spence from undue punishment.

Round 8

More of the same. Spence opened the round boxing more than he normally does, meaning he was more defensive. Not much happened for a while. Then Spence became more aggressive and he just eat punches for his trouble. Another strong round for Crawford.

Round 7

Spence went down twice, once from a counter right hand about a minute into the round and again from a right hook in the final seconds. Crawford is just schooling Spence. I picked Crawford to win the fight, but I didn’t see this coming.

Round 6

Better round for Spence. Very aggressive, did some decent body work. But he continued to take big shots from Crawford, who is still playing the sharpshooter effectively. He landed a right jab that snapped Spence’s head backward.

Round 5

This is stunning to watch. Spence is an unbeaten pound-for-pounder and Crawford is embarrassing him. Making matters worse: Spence landed a really hard left to Crawford’s chin and it didn’t faze him. Spence will have to hurt Crawford to win, it seems.

Round 4

Huge round for Crawford. He dominated Spence, landing almost at will. And he’s not taking much in return. Crawford is comfortable, in control and evidently just better than Spence. At least so far.

Round 3

Spence came out on fire, turning the first part of the round into a brawl. He didn’t get much accomplished, though. And it was Crawford who landed the quicker, cleaner shots after the first minute. Crawford looks sharper right now.

Round 2

Spence went down from a left-right combination with about 20 seconds to go in the round. He didn’t seem to be hurt; maybe stunned, though. The round had gone back and forth before the knockdown. Spence appears to be OK.

Round 1

Interesting opening round. Spence pushed the action much of the three minutes, jabbing (although he didn’t land many) and targeting Crawford’s body. He probably won the round. However, neither guy landing anything of consequence.

***

Lightweight contender Isaac Cruz defeated Giovanni Cabrera by a split decision in a 12-round fight.

Two judges had Cruz winning, 115-112 and 114-113. The third scored it for Cabrera, 114-113. Boxing Junkie scored it 116-111 for Cruz, nine rounds to three.

Cabrera (21-1, 7 KOs) had some success keeping the swarming Cruz (25-2-1, 17 KOs) off of him in the first few rounds by sticking, moving and sometimes holding.

However, Cruz was able to close the distance by the third round and was able to land many hard, eye-catching shots to both the body and head, thus taking control of the fight.

Cabrera continued to pepper his shorter opponent with his jab and landed power shots here and there, enough evidently to win some rounds. However, Cruz won the fight because he landed the vast majority of the power shots.

One impressive element of Cabrera’s performance was his ability to absorb Cruz’s biggest punches, which many other fighters haven’t been able to do.

Cruz lost a point in Round 8 for intentionally butting Cabrera.

***

Nonito Donaire fell short in his bid to win another world title at 40, losing a unanimous decision to 27-year-old Mexican Alexandro Santiago in a fight for the vacant WBC 118-pound title.

The official scores were 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113. Boxing Junkie also scored it 116-112 for Santiago, eight rounds to four.

Donaire was competitive but he showed his age, as Santiago was a step ahead of the Filipino-American for most of the fight. The Tijuana resident dominated the fight from around the fifth round on, jabbing well and landing combinations consistently while taking little in return.

Donaire’s best moment came  in Round 3, when he rocked Santiago with his legendary left hook. However, Santiago survived that punch and was never seriously hurt after that.

The world title is the first in the career of Santiago.

***

Junior middleweight prospect Yoenis Tellez knocked out veteran Sergio Garcia at 2:02 of the third round of a scheduled 10-rounder.

Tellez (6-0, 5 KOs) hurt Garcia with an overhand right midway through the third and then put him down with another right. A wobbly Garcia was able to get up but then took a pounding, prompting referee Robert Hoyle to stop the fight.

Garcia (34-3, 14 KOs) typically sticks and moves. However, he took the fight to Tellez in an apparent attempt to take advantage of his relative inexperience. And he paid price.

***

Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. are scheduled to fight for the undisputed 147-pound championship on pay-per-view tonight (Saturday) from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Also, 135-pound contender Isaac Cruz will face Giovanni Cabrera. And Nonito Donaire will fight Alexandro Santiago for a vacant 118-pound title.

The featured bouts on the card begin at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. The main event will take place later in show.

Boxing Junkie will post round-by-round updates on the main event and the results of featured bouts immediately after they end. Simply return to this post and refresh when the time comes.

Full coverage – a fight story, photo gallery and analysis – will follow on separate posts the night of the fight and the following day.

Enjoy the fights!

Story originally appeared on Boxing Junkie