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Terence “Bud” Crawford DESTROYS Julius Indongo to Become the Undisputed Junior Welterweight Champion of the World

By Joshua “City” Brewer

Boxing was live on ESPN last night in Lincoln, NE, as history was on the line. This was an opportunity for two combatants to challenge each other with the winner becoming the first undisputed champion since Jermain Taylor became the undisputed middleweight champion after defeating Bernard Hopkins in 2005 to pick up all four major belts. The main event featured a highly anticipated junior welterweight, 140 pounds, unification fight between Omaha, NE, native Terence “Bud” Crawford, 32-0, 23 KO’s, as he faced off with Julius “The Blue Machine” Indongo, 22-1, 11 KO’s, of Namibia. The World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), World Boxing Organization (WBO), and International Boxing Federation (IBF) championships were each on the line.

Crawford landed the first real shot of the fight early in the first with a thudding counter left that got Indongo’s attention. He continued to outbox Indongo for the remainder of the round and landed several hard, clean shots on Indongo. Crawford let his power do the talking in the second round when he dropped Indongo with a combination capped by a left to the equilibrium. Indongo was visibly hurt but made it to his feet, though wobbly. He tried to answer back with power shots but was wobbly for the remainder of the round as Crawford continued to beat him to the punch. Crawford continued to look sharp to start round three and showed his skill in a major way when he once again put Indong down, this time with a vicious body shot. Indongo wasn’t able to answer the count and Crawford officially became the first undisputed champion in boxing 11 years with a dominating knockout victory. Crawford showed once again why he is considered one of the best boxers in the world as he made statement for all who dare to challenge. He’s shown that he’s able to adapt to any style. The boxing world will await his next move.

In the co-main event for the evening featured a matchup with red-hot Ukrainian, Oleksandr “The Nail” Gvozdyk, 14-0, 12 KO’s, as he took on Craig Baker, 17-2, 13 KO’s. The first several rounds were uneventful as each fighter chose to fight cautious in nature. Baker did look pretty good early as he showed he did come to fight while Gvozdyk was very conservative with his shots. In round six Gvozdyk dropped Baker with a combination capped off with a blistering right hook. Baker was somehow able to recover but Gvozdyk jumped in with multiple unanswered shots on the still reeling Baker to finish the fight and forced the referee to stop the contest 2:04 round six. Gvozdyk picked up his eighth straight stoppage victory with the technical knockout win. Gvozdyk has without a doubt shown that he has the power to stop things at any given time and all lightweights must take notice.

Sharkur Stevenson, 2-0, 1 KO, kicked off the ESPN broadcast in a fight with David Paz, 4-3-1, 0 KO’s, Stevenson was the busier fighter throughout and repeatedly connected with Paz almost at will, knocking out his mouthpiece on two occasions. Stevenson was able to score a knockdown in the fifth round though Paz was able to recover and make it through the round. Stevenson picked up where he left off and continued to outbox Paz in the sixth and final round of their featherweight fight. Officially, Stevenson walked away with the unanimous decision victory. Stevenson will look to continue his growth early in his pro career.

Another great night of boxing with the fans interest in mind. As we continue to get boxing’s top stars fighting on free television against legit competition, the sport as a whole thrives.

Stay tuned fight fans…

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