Terence Crawford retained his 147-pound title with a 12th-round knockout of Jose Benavidez Jr. on Saturday.
OMAHA, Neb. — As welterweight world titleholder Terence Crawford continued to take the trash talk, disdain and knockout threats from Jose Benavidez Jr., he had one constant response — wait for the fight and he would shut him up.
That’s just what Crawford did — and in style — as he outclassed Benavidez before scoring a violent 12th-round knockout to retain his 147-pound title for the first time before a raucous crowd of 13,323 on Saturday night at the CHI Health Center in Crawford’s hometown. The crowd was the largest that Crawford has drawn to date and he gave the hometown fans a show.
After dominating virtually the entire fight against Benavidez, who simply would not — or could not — throw many punches, Crawford knocked him down with a thunderous right uppercut with about 45 seconds left in the fight and then battered him until referee Celestino Ruiz stepped in to wave off the fight at 2 minutes, 42 seconds as the crowd went wild.
