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SPORTS Monday 16 deceMber 2019

Crawford stops Kavaliauskas to defend welterweight title

By BRIAN MAHONEY “Porter is the next best
AP Sports Writer guy,” Arum said. “He
NEW YORK (AP) — Terence proved himself with Spen-
Crawford’s latest oppo- ce.”
nent had not only never Crawford said he’s ready
been knocked down, but for whichever fighter is
Crawford couldn’t recall next.
seeing him even hurt. “I’ll fight anybody. I’ve
Then again, he’d never been saying that for I don’t
been in a ring with a fighter know how long,” Crawford
like Crawford before. said.
Crawford dropped Egidijus Earlier, Teofimo Lopez won
Kavaliauskas three times a lightweight belt with a
before stopping him in the second-round stoppage of
ninth round Saturday night Richard Commey, and Mi-
to remain unbeaten and chael Conlan beat Olym-
defend his welterweight pic rival Vladimir Nikitin.
title at Madison Square Lopez (15-0, 12 KOs) was
Garden. spectacular in his first title
“I wanted to give the fight, wobbling Commey
crowd a knockout,” Craw- with a left hand early in the
ford said. “When I started second round and then
letting my hands go, I flooring him with a hard
started landing more fatal right hand. He finished the
shots.” fight with a barrage of
Crawford knocked down punches in the corner and
the challenger once in the perhaps next moves on to
seventh round and twice a 135-pound unification
more in the ninth before bout with two-time Olym-
referee Ricky Gonzalez pic gold medalist Vasiliy
stopped it at 44 seconds of Terence Crawford, right, punches Lithuania’s Egidijus Kavaliauskas, knocking him down for a TKO Lomachenko.
the round. in the ninth round of a WBO welterweight boxing match, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019, in New York. Conlan (13-0, 7 KOs) had
Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) ab- Associated Press lost to Nikitin twice as an
sorbed perhaps more shots amateur, including in the
than usual but seemed to 2016 Olympic quarterfinals.
enjoy getting to show he there was reason to when Crawford took a hard shot ning. But this fight certainly He blasted the internation-
has power, too, letting out he landed a big right early early in the seventh but appeared harder than the al boxing federation for
a big smile as Kavaliaus- in the third round and then then began answering skilled Nebraska native’s being corrupt after the de-
kas returned to his corner a couple more punches and finally caught Kaval- first three after moving up cision was announced and
looking frustrated after one inside as Crawford tried to iauskas with a looping right to welterweight, all stop- extended his middle finger
round late in the fight. hold on. Crawford ended near the ear that sent him pages, after he won all to the judges at ringside.
“I thought I had to enter- up going to a knee but Ka- to the canvas. four major belts at 140. He had also lost a close
tain you all for a little bit,” valiauskas wasn’t credited Crawford finished it two He’s still searching for bet- fight to Nikitin in 2013 but
Crawford said. “He’s a with a knockdown, the ref- rounds later, first using a ter opposition in the deep the judges saw this one
strong fighter, durable, eree apparently determin- three-punch combination 147-pound division and as no contest, giving Con-
and I thought I’d give the ing Crawford had been to set up a right upper- promoter Bob Arum indi- lan a lopsided decision by
crowd something to cheer pushed down. cut that sent Kavaliauskas cated Crawford may look scores of 100-90, 99-91 and
for.” Crawford said afterward to the canvas. He got up next to veteran Shawn 98-92.q
Kavaliauskas (21-1-1), a he wasn’t hurt by that shot but Crawford then threw Porter, who is coming off
Lithuanian who was the and it wasn’t long before a right hook that returned a competitive loss to Errol
mandatory challenger for he was the one doing the two-time Olympian to Spence Jr. in a unification
Crawford’s WBO belt, had more damage. the canvas and the fight bout in September.
some good moments in Kavaliauskas kept throw- was immediately waved A Crawford-Spence bout
the first few rounds before ing big punches that drove off. would likely be the most at-
Crawford took control mid- Crawford backward when The 32-year-old Crawford tractive possible, but Spen-
way through the fight and they landed, but Crawford bristled this week when ce was injured in a car ac-
then poured it on late. used his speed advantage asked if getting in tougher cident and it’s unknown
Crawford fought cau- to slip out of the way of fights would earn him ex- when he can fight again.
tiously at the outset and many of them while land- tra appreciation, saying That could leave Porter as
Kavaliauskas showed why ing his own combinations. all that mattered was win- the next choice.