Terence Crawford overcomes rocky start, stops Egidijus Kavaliauskas in 9!
Leading up to this fight the consensus was that Terence Crawford (37-0, 26KOs) would simply overwhelm and outclass his unbeaten mandatory Egidijus Kavaliauskas (21-1, 17KOs)! Egidijus Kavaliauskas clearly had other ideas!
THE BREAKDOWN
After the opening stanza went to Crawford, who utilized his superior boxing skills, in round 2 things would change greatly! It was clear that Crawford wasn’t going to be looking to box. He, instead, stood toe-to-toe with his powerful challenger. As punches were being exchanged, a right-hand down the middle from Kavaliauskas snapped back the head of the champion. Later in the round, Kavaliauskas would again throw a right-hand that would drop Crawford, but was ruled a push down.
As the fight progressed, a furious battle ensued as both men would give just as much as they received. Crawford continued to get hit with hard right-hands. Although, this would only motivate him to bring the fight and pain back against Kavaliauskas, who was proving to be a worthy challenger!
Round 7 would be the game changer for Crawford, as he was the aggressor coming forward with bad intentions. With about 25 seconds left in the round, he would unleash a right hook that would send Kavaliauskas down!
Fast forward to round 9, Crawford would drop Kavaliauskas yet again! Not once, but twice. The initial knockdown came from a right uppercut. As for the final one, that was the culprit of a flurry of punches from the champion.
While it was anything but another easy night at the office for Terence Crawford, it was a good fight for the fans watching at home and in the arena.
With another title defense now in the books, Crawford will hopefully cross paths with the guys “across the street,” aka the PBC welterweight champions and contenders.
By: Jerrell Fletcher
