Terence Crawford looked a little surprised by the speed of Yuriorkis Gamboa to start the night, but once he got the timing down, he turned the tide and took over tonight's HBO Boxing After Dark main event in front of a raucous hometown crowd in Omaha, Nebraska, knocking Gamboa down four times en route to a ninth round stoppage to retain his WBO lightweight title.
Crawford (24-0, 17 KO) may have lost the first four rounds (BLH gave Gamboa three of the first four), but in round five he decked Gamboa (23-1, 16 KO) hard, and took over the fight from there. To his immense credit, Gamboa never gave up on himself, and perhaps feeling that he was wearing down and being overpowered by a very good, physically bigger man, he went for broke, swinging for the fences, which fight fans always ask to see out of guys who don't look like they're going to win.In the end, Gamboa was dropped three more times, once in the eighth round and twice in the ninth, leading to referee Genaro Rodriguez stopping the fight. Read full Story...
