LAS VEGAS ? Terence ?Bud? Crawford returned to Las Vegas and hit it big on lucky number seven.
The Omahan?s seventh victory in as many world title fights pulled in his biggest haul. Crawford added the WBC super lightweight title and the 140-pound lineal crown to his WBO junior welterweight championship with a unanimous decision over Viktor Postol at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Crawford (29-0, 20 KOs) dropped Postol (28-1, 12 KOs) twice in the fifth round and pulled away from the Ukrainian champion. He won convincingly on the scorecards: 118-107, 118-107 and 117-108.
The unified champion fought left-handed from the opening minutes. He was constantly moving, not allowing Postol to set his feet and throw his left jab, the punch that sets up his entire offensive attack.
?He?s the type of fighter that?s got to be set to punch,? Crawford said. ?I kept his feet moving and kept him off-balance. … I caught my rhythm. I did everything I wanted to do from then on.?
Postol took the first and third rounds on all three scorecards. Crawford won the fourth, then knocked Postol down with a quick hook at the opening bell of the fifth. He landed a flush counter left later in the round, sending the Ukrainian reeling across the ring, where his gloves ultimately touched the canvas.
?Every time I?d connect with a solid shot,? Crawford said, ?I felt I was hurting him.?
Postol was penalized a point for hitting Crawford in the back of the head in the 11th, a round he lost according to two judges. At the final bell, Crawford held both fists in the air in the middle of the ring.
The crowd of 7,027 ? mostly Crawford fans ? roared as the fight came to a close.
With the victory, Crawford became one of only six unified champions in boxing and one of five lineal champions. He and heavyweight Tyson Fury are the only unified, lineal champs in 17 weight classes.
This was Crawford?s first fight in Las Vegas since his March 2013 breakthrough victory over former world title challenger Breidis Prescott as a late replacement at the Mandalay Bay. That win, in his HBO debut, sent him on a path toward his first world title shot ? a bout with Ricky Burns in Scotland one year later.
Crawford outboxed the longtime WBO lightweight belt-holder to become Omaha?s first world champion. He defended that title twice in his hometown, beating former unified champion Yuriorkis Gamboa and top contender Ray Beltran to claim the vacant lineal lightweight crown and Fighter of the Year honors.
In 2015, he moved up a division to become the WBO junior welterweight champion by knocking out Thomas Dulorme in Arlington, Texas. He defended his new crown in Omaha last fall with a technical knockout of Dierry Jean before blowing out Hank Lundy in five rounds in New York City in February.
A bout materialized afterward with Postol, who had won the WBC super lightweight belt with a TKO victory over Lucas Matthysse in California last October. The bout put each fighter on pay-per-view for the first time.
