Terence Crawford Gets Big Kayo In Front of Omaha Fans

Terence Crawford wanted to deliver a big moment in front of his home fans in Omaha, Nebraska Saturday night. And, while it took a few rounds, a tremendous one-two combo landed on opponent David Avaneysan and laid him out.

Crawford scored an emphatic 6th round KO to successfully defend his WBO World Welterweight Title in front of a sell-out crowd in the downtown CHI Health Center. The bout was the main event of the BLK Prime promoted card aired Saturday night on Pay-per-view

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Crawford, who’s largely regarded as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, was an action for the first time in 13 months and showed some ring rust in the first couple of rounds. This, as his Russian-born opponent Avaneysan seemed to score on a couple occasions with some solid shots. Crawford was content to be patient with a solid right jab and occasional punches behind it.

Crawford, now 39-0, 30 KOs, began to pick up the pace starting in the third round and landed more effectively, especially with left hooks off the jab and shots to the body. Crawford was particularly effective with the uppercut in the 5th and 6th round and that’s when he landed a devastating 1-2 combo to end things.

The End Came Quickly

As Avenesyan leaned in, Crawford caught him with a glancing left followed by a booming straight right hand through his guard and Avaneysan, now 29-4-1, splatted on his back and the back of his head on the canvas. The fight was quickly stopped with Avaneysan laying motionless on the mat. He stayed down, including in a seated position for several minutes out of concern from the ringside physician.

The knockout was the desired outcome for Crawford who is still angling for an Undisputed 147 lb. title shot with WBA/WBC/IBF world champ Errol Spence. Those two could not come to agreement and that led to Crawford taking the title defense with the lighter regarded Avaneysan.

Saturday night’s KO is the 10th straight in a title fight for uber-talented fighter.

Crawford previously fought in a raucous environment in that same arena in October 2018. That’s when he headlined the ESPN/Top Rank Boxing show from Omaha and stopped Jose Benavidez Jr. in the 12th and final round He also fought at the CHI Health Center defending his unified 140 lb. titles in a TKO win over John Molina Jr. in June 2016.