Welterweight titleholder Terence Crawford knocked out Avanesyan in the sixth round to retain his belt.
The official time of the stoppages was 2:14.
Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) boxed well for five-plus rounds but had his hands full with the relentless Avanesyan (29-4-1, 17 KOs), who never stopped attacking.
Then, in the final round, Crawford landed a counter left and followed with a right hook that ended the fight instantaneously. Avanesyan fell flat onto his back and didn’t get up for a few minutes.
You can read a full report here.
ROUND 6
FIGHT OVER! Crawford stopped Avanesyan with a single right hand. Avanesyan fell flat onto his back and didn’t move. Crawford had been in control of the fight but that shot came out of nowhere. Wow!
ROUND 5
Crawford is controlling the action by fighting behind his jab, which maintains distance that’s advantageous to him and sets up his power shots. Avanesyan continues to be relentless, though. Crawford will have to hurt him or break him down to slow him down. … Evidently Crawford’s gloves are torn.
ROUND 4
Crawford imposed his will on Avanesyan in the final minute, planting his feet and exchanges punches. That was a good round for Crawford. He was busy, landed some power shots and did a good job of avoiding Avanesyan’s best punches. The underdog did land a few, however.
ROUND 3
The intensity picked up a little that round. Avanesyan is applying serious pressure and landing some eye-catching shots. Crawford continues to jab and through more power punches that round. He landed some nice body shots.
ROUND 2
Crawford is fighting patiently, pecking away with his jab to keep Avanesyan away. Neither guy is getting much done, though. Crawford was busy but didn’t land many clean shots. Avanesyan landed a few good punches in the final minute.
ROUND 1
Avanesyan landed the biggest punch of the opening round — a big right about midway through — but Crawford was the busy man, jabbing incessantly and landing a few power shots. Crawford probably won the first round.
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We’re a few minutes away from Crawford vs. Avanesyan.
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Mixed Martial Arts star Cris Cyborg, making her boxing debut at 37 years old, defeated Gabrielle Holloway (0-3) by a unanimous decision in a four-round junior middleweight bout.
The scores were 40-35, 40-34 and 39-36.
Holloway, reluctant to engage Cyborg throughout, went down under a barrage of hard shots from her famous opponent in Round 3.
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Arnold Khegai (19-1-1, 11 KOs) of Ukraine defeated former title challenger Eduardo Baez (21-4-2, 7 KOs) of Mexico by a split decision in a 10-round 126-pound bout.
Two judges had Khegai winning, 96-93 and 95-94. One scored it for Baez, 95-94. Khegai was penalized one point for holding.
Khegai has now won three consecutive fights since he lost a wide decision to current champion Stephen Fulton in a 122-pound bout in January 2020.
Baez was coming off a sixth-round knockout loss to 126-pound champ Emanuel Navarrete in August.
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Welterweight titleholder Terence Crawford will defend his belt against David Avanesyan on pay-per-view Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska.
The main portion of the show is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. The main event will take place later in the broadcast.
Boxing Junkie will post round-by-round analysis and the result of the main event immediately afterward. Simply return to this post and refresh when the time comes.
We’ll also post the results of other featured bouts.
Full coverage – a fight story, photo gallery and analysis – will follow on separate posts the night of the fight and the following day.
Enjoy the fights!
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