Terrence Crawford stops Gamboa in Round 9 and retains the WBO lightweight title. He score three knockdowns before referee Genaro Rodriguez eventually stops the contest after the fourth knockdown.
It was just in time, when I woke up at 5:30 AM, Kuwait time (9:30 PT) HBO Boxing After Dark main event started. Hometown boy Terence Crawford of Omaha, Nebraska, and his opponent, Yuriorkis Gamboa, currently number nine in my Top Ten Pound-for-Pound Undefeated Boxers list were both inside the ring. I need to rewrite the aforementioned list as soon as I hit the publish button of this post. So, try to visit the link before I delete him forever.
Not able to read the fight preview? It's best previewed here. Now going back to the fight, Crawford started the night a little bit cautious and went through the feeling out process in the opening round. But Gamboa have something else in his mind. Gamboa was landing one-two's upstairs and couple of jabs to the body---not interested in the feeling out process.
In Round 2, Gamboa became even more confident, and he hit Crawford anytime he wanted and jumped out of the harms way even before the taller Crawford can retaliate. It's obvious that Crawford needs to adjust the quickness of Gamboa going into the third.
In the third, Crawford did adjust and became more aggressive and they went for broke before the end of the round. Both men ended up bouncing on their feet after the bell, as if they don't want that one minute break. But still, it's an easy round to score for Gamboa.
"I was warming up, getting use to his style in the first couple of rounds", Crawford answered Max Kellerman when ask about what happened in the early round.
I sensed something gonna happen in the fourth. I think adjustment must start here, if he indeed can adjust. Crawford turned to southpaw stance and landed a good right hand to the head as Gamboa crouched coming in. They exchange leather in the middle of the ring, less than a minute in the round. Crawford made the most out of it and wobbled Gamboa.
Crawford stuck to the southpaw stance the entire night starting third round.
Less than a minute in the fifth, a big left hand from Crawford sent Gamboa hard to the floor. Gamboa got up, but obviously hurt with 30 seconds left. He went for a broke in the remaining seconds, which is not the wise thing to do. But the crowd loved it! He survived the round. From here, Crawford took over the fight and was able to time Gamboa well, making him missed coming in and counter. He was able to control the distance with his jabs, which Gamboa did in the first four rounds.
"My coach tells me to keep my hands up a little bit more and catch him coming in." told Crawford about his adjustment after Round 5. "(I turned to southpaw) because I felt like I can make the adjustment with my jab, because he always jab with his left hand, and I can get my rhythm by catching him, with my jab in a southpaw stance." continued Crawford about the switch from orthodox to southpaw stance.
In eighth, Crawford while fighting on the back foot, towards the corner, landed a crisp counter right hand that forced Gamboa to take a knee. Gamboa left too open for counters when he mounts his attack. Crawford capitalizes this mistake.
In the ninth, the end is inevitable as Gamboa seemed to commit the same mistake as he's now looking to score a knockdown, because he's way down at this point on the scorecards. The more he commit to the offensive, the more he leave his guard open.
And yes! Gamboa is gunning for a knockdown as he hurt also Crawford. But Crawford catch him coming in with a left hook that puts Gamboa down for the third time. To his credit, Gamboa got up but a huge right hand again puts him down that opted the referee to stepped in stopping the contest.
"It means a lot" Crawford's answered when ask about what this fight means to him. "This is what they've been waiting on since I turned pro. It's been a long time. Everybody's been waiting on me to come back (since 2006)."
