Omaha's Terence Crawford retained his WBO welterweight title Saturday noght by technical knockout when Amir Khan wasn’t able to continue after being hit with a low blow in the sixth round.
Khan retreated toward his corner in pain. After taking a couple minutes trying to shake it off , his corner told the referee that Khan couldn’t continue. “I could tell I was breaking him down. It was just a matter of time,” Crawford said.
It was a strange, unsatisfying ending to Top Rank’s first ESPN pay-per-view card, drawing loud boos from the crowd of 14,091 at Madison Square Garden. The finish left Crawford and promoter Bob Arum with plenty of time to lobby for the fight they want next. “The fight I want next is Errol Spence,” Crawford said. “Whenever he is ready, he can come and get it.”
Crawford (35-0, 26 KOs) had knocked Khan down in the first round, but the final couple rounds had been competitive, with both fighters throwing hard shots from close range.
Referee David Fields didn’t appear to see the final one that hit Khan (33-5) low. Khan could have taken five minutes trying to recover, but his trainer, Virgil Hunter, made the decision before then that Khan was finished.
(Photo: AP)