Crawford vs Spence, 2023: Three Knockdowns and a Ninth-Round Stoppage for the Undisputed Welterweight Crown
Terence Crawford dropped Errol Spence Jr. three times and stopped him at 2:32 of the ninth round in Las Vegas on 29 July 2023, becoming the first undisputed welterweight champion of the four-belt era.
On 29 July 2023, inside a sold-out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, two unbeaten southpaws finally settled the argument that had hung over the welterweight division for years. Terence Crawford put Errol Spence Jr. on the canvas three times and forced a stoppage at 2:32 of the ninth round, taking every major belt at 147 pounds and becoming the first man of the four-belt era to rule two divisions outright.
Two Unbeaten Southpaws and Years of False Starts
By the summer of 2023 the two men had spent the better part of half a decade as the obvious answer to the question of who was best at welterweight, and as the fight nobody could seem to make. Crawford, born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1987, had already cleared out the 140-pound division, stopping Julius Indongo in three rounds in Lincoln in August 2017 to become that weight's first undisputed champion since Kostya Tszyu. He moved up the following year, taking the WBO welterweight title from Jeff Horn with a ninth-round stoppage in Las Vegas in June 2018.
Spence, born on Long Island in 1990 and raised in DeSoto, Texas, had boxed for the United States at the 2012 London Olympics before turning professional. He won the IBF belt by stopping Kell Brook in Sheffield in May 2017, then added the WBC title with a split decision over Shawn Porter in September 2019. His path was not smooth: weeks after the Porter fight he was thrown from his Ferrari when it flipped several times in a crash, and in August 2021 a torn retina in his left eye forced him out of a planned bout with Manny Pacquiao. He returned in April 2022 to stop Yordenis Ugás in ten rounds and collect the WBA belt, leaving Crawford's WBO strap as the only piece missing.
The promotional landscape had long kept them apart, but Crawford's split from Top Rank after his November 2021 win over Porter opened a door. Even so, talks collapsed late in September 2022, according to ESPN. The deal was finally confirmed on 23 May 2023, brokered by Al Haymon of Premier Boxing Champions on Spence's side and Ish Hinson of CAA on Crawford's. ESPN reported that each fighter was guaranteed an eight-figure payday and that the contract carried a two-way rematch clause: the loser could trigger a second fight within 30 days, to take place before the end of 2023.
Fight Night at T-Mobile Arena
The bout was sold as a Showtime pay-per-view in the United States and drew a sellout crowd of 19,990, according to the Associated Press. Crawford brought a record of 39-0 with 30 knockouts; Spence was 28-0 with 22. Spence, at 33, was two years younger and weighed in at the 147-pound limit, with Crawford a quarter-pound lighter. Harvey Dock was the referee. Along with the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO belts, the vacant Ring Magazine championship was on the line, with Wikipedia also listing the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board title.
The opening round was Spence's, at least on paper: CBS Sports' round-by-round scoring gave him the first, and the official cards would later show the same. It was the last round he would win.
The Second-Round Knockdown That Changed the Fight
Late in the second round, with roughly 20 seconds left, Crawford timed Spence coming in and dropped him. Accounts of the punch differ in their detail. The Associated Press described it as a right hand, ESPN as a southpaw jab that followed a left to the body, and CBS Sports as a counter jab chased by a straight left. All agree that the knockdown came from Crawford's counterpunching, and Spence rose to finish the round.
From there the pattern hardened. Crawford's right jab, the lead hand of a southpaw, kept finding Spence's face as he advanced, and by the fourth round Spence was bleeding from the nose. Spence kept walking forward and kept throwing, but the shots coming back at him were cleaner and arrived first. The final CompuBox figures, published by ESPN, show how lopsided the exchanges became: Spence threw 480 punches and landed 96, while Crawford threw 369 and landed 185. Crawford connected with 87 jabs to Spence's 33, and landed 60 per cent of his power punches against 34 per cent for Spence.
Two More Trips to the Canvas in the Seventh
The seventh round removed whatever doubt remained. A little over a minute in, at 1:02 by the AP's count, Crawford answered a Spence right hand with a short counter that sent him down for the second time. Spence got up and survived until the final seconds, when Crawford dropped him again, with the AP placing the knockdown with one second left on the clock and CBS Sports describing the punch as a right hook. A two-knockdown round on the judges' cards meant a 10-7 session, and by the end of the eighth all three officials had Crawford ahead 79-70.
Stopped at 2:32 of the Ninth
Spence came out for the ninth, but Crawford went after him with jabs and clean power shots, and Spence's legs buckled under the volume. With Spence badly hurt, Dock stepped in at 2:32 of the round. Crawford improved to 40-0 with 31 knockouts, his eleventh consecutive stoppage win according to the AP, and Spence suffered his first defeat at 28-1.
In the ring afterwards Crawford reflected on how far he had come, telling reporters, as quoted by the AP, "I only dreamed of being a world champion." Spence offered no excuses; the AP quoted him as saying, "He was just better tonight. I make no excuses." He also made clear he wanted the rematch his contract allowed.
Undisputed in Two Divisions and a Record Gate
The win made Crawford the first undisputed welterweight champion of the four-belt era that began in 2004, and the first male boxer of that era to hold all four major titles in two weight classes. It also proved a commercial success. Wikipedia, citing reported figures, puts pay-per-view sales at around 700,000 buys and more than $59 million in revenue, with ticket sales above $20 million.
A Rematch That Never Came
Spence exercised his rematch clause, but the second fight never materialised. Crawford's undisputed reign at welterweight was short: the IBF ordered him to face its interim champion Jaron Ennis and, with the rematch clause activated, stripped him of its belt on 9 November 2023, elevating Ennis to full champion. Spence later said he would not have been ready for the rematch within the required timeframe, according to Wikipedia. Crawford moved up to 154 pounds instead, outpointing Israil Madrimov in August 2024 for the WBA super-welterweight title to become a four-division world champion, before going on to face Canelo Álvarez for the undisputed super-middleweight crown in September 2025.
The fight the boxing world had demanded for years turned out to be one of the most one-sided elite matchups of its time. Judges had Spence winning just one round, and the CompuBox numbers left little room for debate.
Sources
- Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- Terence Crawford, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- Errol Spence Jr., Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- Crawford unifies welterweight division with 9th-round TKO in dominant performance over Spence, Associated Press (via KSAT), 30 July 2023
- Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford fight results and highlights, CBS Sports, 29-30 July 2023
- Terence Crawford stops Errol Spence Jr. to become undisputed welterweight champion, ESPN, July 2023
- Errol Spence Jr., Terence Crawford set for July 29 undisputed welterweight bout, Mike Coppinger, ESPN, 23 May 2023
- Anatomy of a superfight: Spence vs Crawford, Matt Christie, Boxing News, 31 May 2023
