This past Saturday night, in Omaha, NE, the boxing world caught witness of one of its top stars, Terence Crawford, the WBO champion at 147 pounds, as he fought a tough and hungry contender in Jose Benavidez Jr.
Crawford was able to overcome a slow start before pulling away in the second half of the fight and stopping Benavidez in the 12th round after landing a wicked uppercut and then finishing him off right after.
The crowd in Omaha, where Crawford was raised and still resides, went crazy following his win, the 34th of his career, with 25 knockouts. An estimated 13,323 fans were behind their champion each step of the way, inside of the CHI Health Center. Crawford is now 12-0 in world title fights while Benavidez falls to 27-1 with 18 knockouts.
“We knew that he wanted to get in my head and make it a firefight,” Crawford said afterwards. “I saw him in his corner taking deep breaths and knew he was done.”
Crawford’s trainer Brian “BoMac” McIntyre was equally as happy, stating “I told Benavidez he was going to get his ass kicked. And that’s what Bud did.”
Benavidez, still only 26 years old, was still upbeat afterwards.
“I gave a hell of a fight to the best fighter in the world,” Benavidez said. “This is boxing. It happens. He is a great fighter, but I’m a great fighter, too. We gave the fans a great show.”
Benavidez had talked a lot of trash during the week of the fight, especially at Wednesday’s open media workout, where the two men argued with one another, at Thursday’s press conference, where they traded insults, and at the weigh-in on Friday, where he shoved Crawford after they faced off. Following Benavidez’s shove, Crawford swung with a right hand and missed by inches. That set the tone for the fight.
But following Crawford’s win, which will leave fans clamoring to see him in with one of the division’s champions, you can tell there is still some bad blood in the air. Crawford was asked ringside, as he spoke to the press, whether he had respect for Benavidez following their fight.
“No,” he replied bluntly.
And when Benavidez was asked to give his take on the fight, he seemed dismissive of Crawford’s fighting ability. Benavidez claimed that he didn’t feel Crawford’s punches during the fight, that he was walking through his shots, and claimed that his knee was affecting him more than anything. Benavidez suffered a gunshot to his knee a few years back that required surgery and his team believe it hampered him in the second part of the fight.
What we can learn from Crawford vs. Benavidez is that bad blood in boxing very much can be real. Despite some of the sport revolving around antics that are an obvious act to boost fights, much like WWE wrestling, these two very much had and appear to still have dislike for each other.
But now the real drama will be what is next for Crawford? As fans surely want to see him in with the best.
