"I thought I looked wonderful in that fight," Crawford said. "I rewatched it and thought I was sharp and controlling the action. The only thing he was doing was feinting and moving. He didn’t try to engage.

But now, they're set to meet in one of the biggest events the sport can offer, a matchup that will decide supremacy at 147 pounds, and lend the winner a claim as the best boxer in the world regardless of weight. Already, Crawford is ESPN's No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer, with Spence three spots behind him at No. 4.

Backing up Crawford and Madrimov is a lineup with several notable names, including former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz (35-2, 22 KOs) taking on Jarrell Miller (26-1-1, 22 KOs), and Isaac Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KOs) defending his WBA super lightweight title against Jose Venezuela (13-2, 9 KOs).

David Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs), No. 1 at 168, has held the interim WBC 168-pound title since May 2022. The WBC has never come close to enforcing a title consolidation bout versus Guadalaraja’s Alvarez.

Stephen Espinoza, the president of Showtime Sports, saw Crawford heading in. Espinoza has worked in boxing for decades, with Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions before Showtime. But as the undercard plowed forward, back inside the VIP reception, he said he had never seen a fighter—not De La Hoya, not Floyd Mayweather Jr., not Manny Pacquiao or anyone else—make such an emphatic entrance without saying a word.

The fight turned the next round, though. Spence continued to hunt for jabs and body shots, in both cases, with precision. But then! Spence lunged too far at Crawford, lost his balance and Crawford, as he always does, pounced. He tried a left first, and Spence partially blocked it. Then Crawford sailed a right into Spence’s face—and down The Big Fish went, caught in the net Team Crawford had predicted.

The Ring ranks Spence as the No. 1 welterweight and Crawford at No. 2, while Michael Rosenthal of USA Today's Boxing Junkie noted the publication has Crawford as the best pound-for-pound fighter and ahead of Spence at No. 4.

Yet, if it was war we wanted, all of the ammunition went in a singular direction. The cards said Spence was knocked down only three times in nine rounds. But each was more emphatic than the last. After a while, Spence could no longer see the punches coming his way. His reactions to feints were getting bigger. Crawford’s counters were leaving him wobbly. During the final knockdown, Crawford hit Spence so hard, the Texan left his feet and almost fell out of the ring. Were we really watching two welterweights fight? The ferocity felt more like George Foreman and Joe Frazier, Felix Trinidad and Roy Jones Jr., Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Arturo Gatti.

Wearing shorts and white shocks, his answers are considered, but brief. Usually a fighter during fight week is drained from all the promotion and dieting and can range from angsty to combative, depending on the personality.

Afterward, Crawford, whose nickname is Bud and who was guaranteed $10 million by BLK Prime, a subscription video on demand company, flexed his biceps and paraded around the ring with a wide grin. Inside the arena, speakers blared "Before I Let Go," an R&B classic by Maze featuring Frankie Beverly.

A Golden Gloves silver medalist, Crawford made his pro debut in 2008. Crawford became light welterweight champion in 2014 and, by 2017, held the WBO, WBC, WBA, and IBF titles. In 2018, Crawford beat Jeff Horn for the WBO welterweight title. He has defended the belt six times.

" hereby requests to be reinstated as the WBA super champion at 154 pounds. We also want you to know that Jermell has no problem with Israil Madrimov defending his regular title against Terence crawford upcoming fight this summer."

One of the problems that has hindered boxing, though, is that promoters now spend so much money putting the main event together, particularly on a pay-per-view card, that there is nothing left to fill out a quality undercard and to market, advertise and promote the show. And so if there isn’t a controversy or some means to grab the public’s interest, the fight suffers at the box office.

Before this epic clash, the undercard should deliver some great action. The co-main is Isaac Cruz vs. Giovanni Cabrera in WBC and WBA lightweight title eliminator (titles currently held by Devin Haney).

"It means everything because of who I took the belts from," said Crawford. "They talked bad about me. They said I wasn’t good enough and I couldn’t beat these welterweights. I just kept my head to the sky and kept praying to God that I would get the opportunity to show the world how great Terence Crawford is. Tonight, I believe I showed how great I am."

As a large portion of the Las Vegas fight crowd celebrated Terence Crawford’s emphatic ninth-round stoppage triumph over Errol Spence Jr. on Saturday, the predictable cries for a rematch had already begun.

A two-time gold medalist at the amateur level, Madrimov turned pro in 2018. The man from Uzbekistan beat Magomed Kurbanov in March via TKO to win the vacant WBA super welterweight title. It was his seventh win via the power punch.