Saturday night at New York?s Madison Square Garden, in a fight televised live on ESPN pay-per-view, Terence Crawford (35-0, 26 KOs), the ambidextrous WBO welterweight champion from Omaha, Nebraska, successfully defended his title by stopping Amir Khan (33-5, 20 KOs), the former two-division champion from Bolton, Lancashire, United Kingdom, with a low blow at 0:47 of round six.
Fighting out of the red corner in gold and white trunks, Crawford almost ended it in the opening round. After feeling each other out for two and a half minutes, a short, crisp right hand to the chin dropped the challenger to the canvas, signaling that it would be a short night. A follow-up hook and another big right at the bell reinforced that observation.
But Khan, fighting out of the blue corner in white trunks with red trim, weathered the storm in round one, as well as most of the storms that were to come. He recovered slowly in the second, landing a right of his own that caught Crawford pulling back with his hands held low, but he kept lunging forward, and kept eating punches, while hesitantly firing back on shaky legs.
Between rounds two and three, Crawford?s corner told him, ?You?ve got to keep busy. Keep that jab in his face and he can?t do shit.?
Crawford switched from orthodox to southpaw in the third round and a confused Khan grew more confused as a result. The challenger landed a combination, but the champ hadn?t begun targeting the body, at least not yet, and Khan was holding his own against a fighter who was superior in every way.
Khan was stunned by another right hand to open round four. Then Crawford began landing body shots which weakened his opponent even further. The bout had become what everyone thought it would become when it was announced: a mismatch between a fighter who never lived up to his potential and was a decade past his prime against a virtuoso who would have beaten his opponent whenever they might have fought.
Between the fourth and fifth rounds, Khan?s trainer, Virgil Hunter, offered sage advice. ?On the inside don?t let him get off. Short uppercuts, okay? Hook off the jab, okay? Don?t reach, okay? Stay smart for me, okay??
Khan may have heard him through the din. He didn?t win the round, or any rounds for that matter, but he caught Crawford a couple times and had his best round of the fight. Hunter was pleased. ?Good round. Much better round,? he said. ?Be smart now, okay? Be smart.?
That may have been too much to ask of a reckless fighter.
Crawford resumed his domination in the sixth round?punctuated by a low blow thrown with full force that all but disabled Khan, who was grimacing in pain and attempting to walk it off while the referee kept pestering him to hurry up and decide if he was ready to resume the fight.
The punch was illegal. It was below the belt. The spectacle was appalling. While Khan was mulling over whether he could continue, officials at ringside ruled it an ?accidental foul,? in a perfect example of reading a fighter?s mind while gleaning his intentions.
Khan was already injured. He had hurt his right hand in the fourth. The low blow, however painful, added insult to injury. Virgil Hunter asked if he could continue and Khan couldn?t answer in the affirmative, for which he was blamed, instead of blaming Crawford for throwing the illegal punch which soured the night and ended the fight.
The fight wasn?t competitive, just as everyone expected, but it had its moments, all of which were forgotten in the anticlimactic end to a ballyhooed bout which failed to live up to its billing.
After the fight, Crawford was asked about the punch that ended it and said, ?It wasn?t a low blow.?
The champ was mistaken.
