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"I'm a free agent," said Crawford, who left Top Rank not long ago and worked with BLK Prime to produce this fight. "This is a one-fight deal. Hopefully we can go to the drawing board and hope for big fights in the near future."
8:40 p.m. ET: Edel Gomez and Joseph Aguilar face off to end the prelim portion of the PPV event. Aguilar is dropped in the first round. Another body shot lands in the second round and the fight is over via TKO.
Andreas Hale is the senior editor for combat sports at The Sporting News. Formerly at DAZN, Hale has written for various combat sports outlets, including The Ring, Sherdog, Boxing Scene, FIGHT, Champions and others.
By Mark Eisner: WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) did what everyone expected him to on Saturday night, stopping #6 David Avanesyan (29-4-1, 17 KOs) in round six on BLK Prime PPV at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
Undisputed Welterweight World Champion Terence "Bud" Crawford is not only the best fighter in the sport today, but perhaps the best of his generation, capturing the undisputed crown in two separate weight classes while accruing a Hall of Fame resume. Read Bio
Donaire’s left hook was on display early, however, as the Filipino cut the right brow of the Mexican fighter with a counter shot in the third round. Santiago was stunned and retreated backward due to the blow, but he didn’t retract.
“I only dreamed of being a world champion,” Crawford said. “I’m an over-achiever. Nobody believed in me when I was coming up, but I made everybody a believer. I want to thank Spence and his team because without him none of this would have been possible.”
Round 9: Cruz is struggling to adjust his game plan here. He needs to either dial up his aggression to 11 or switch things up. Bang, nasty left hand connects for Cruz. Valenzuela darts inside with a jab. More pawing jabs and crosses from Valenzuela, and Cruz just accepts it. Uppercut from Valenzuela. Three-punch combination from Valenzuela. Oh, gorgeous defense by Valenzuela followed by a counter flurry. He’s boxing beautifully. OUCH. Monster low blow by Cruz and that one clearly hurt Valenzuela. This referee is trying to convince Valenzuela that it didn’t hurt much because he has a cup. OK then. Valenzuela is ready and he goes straight back to the jab. Cruz winds up and misses with an uppercut. Slick combination from inside the pocket for Valenzuela. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 Valenzuela. (87-84 Valenzuela.)
Round 7: Valenzuela picks back up where he left off. He’s backing Cruz up and pawing out a long jab. Cruz lunges inside but Valenzuela escapes and resets. Valenzuela peppers out several straight punches then blasts Cruz with an uppercut. Again, the champ just eats it. Cruz flurries with looping hooks. Cruz bullies Valenzuela into the corner and goes to work with short punches. Nice counter right from Valenzuela. And more and more. Really slick sequence from the challenger to end the round. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 Valenzuela. (67-66 Valenzuela.)
