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December 10, 2016 Terence Crawford vs. John Molina Jr at CenturyLink Center, Omaha, Nebraska,
For the following Titles:
WBC World super lightweight title
WBO World super lightweight title

Terence Crawford defeats John Molina by TKO

If you were ringside at Omaha, Nebraska or you had your eyes glued to the HBO screen on Saturday night, you could only conclude one thing, the fight between Terence Crawford and John Molina was an outright mismatch.

The Crawford vs Molina fight was indeed a mismatch as the homeboy didn’t have any trouble stopping Molina in their 140 pound unification match. The match lasted eight rounds but many a boxing fan and pundit have argued that the eight rounds were clearly unnecessary as Crawford had already won the fight long before that.

What happened in the ring?

Terence Crawford (30-0, 21KOs) made his fight against John Molina (29-7, 23KOs) look like a child’s play in the eyes of all those watching. The Omaha boxer kept dealing Molina accurate punches round after round. He even put up a rare boxing display by changing stances from orthodox to southpaw every now and then.

On his part, Molina adopted a chase-and-chase-my-opponent style of fighting for the better part of Saturday night. He kept chasing Crawford around the ring, barely stopping to rest his feet and elbows for even a second or two. He was supposedly looking for a home-run punch as he is sometimes wont to do. His relentless attack however made him vulnerable to Crawford’s well-calculated punches as all his attention was concentrated on attacking and not defending. He however still managed to land Crawford ‘Bud’ a haymaker every now and then.

After a seven round running and punching game with Molina, Crawford decided it was time to do away with the game and gift himself the victory he so evidently deserved in that Nebraskan boxing ring. He therefore first started by dealing Molina a hard right that sent him to the corner. He followed this with a flurry of powerful head and body shots which Molina was unable to answer. The crowd, which was largely composed of Crawford’s supporters, was by this time roaring wildly with applause. Seeing that Molina wasn’t answering Crawford’s shots, the referee Mark Nelson stepped in and signalled the duel to a stop. This was at exactly 2:32 minute of the eighth round.

The final signal could only mean one thing, Crawford had retained his WBC and WBO junior welterweight titles that had been up for grabs against Molina Saturday night.

On fighting Manny Pacquiao or Errol Spence

Following his victory Saturday night, 29 year old Crawford was asked about the prospects of fighting Manny Pacquiao or Errol Spence. He said those decisions were totally up to his promoter Bob Arum but that he would love a unification fight with Pacquiao or any other opponent. He even went ahead and mentioned Ricky Burns as a potential opponent. A fight between Crawford and Burns is however not likely to excite fans much as Crawford has already managed to defeat Burns in the past and in addition to this, Burns is considered way below Crawford in terms of welterweight prowess.

Crawford’s respect for Molina

Crawford had some positive words for Molina even after easily defeating him Saturday night. He said he had to give it up for his fellow American opponent as he fought and did all he could while the two of them were inside the ring.

Meanwhile, CompuBox punch data showed that Crawford had 184 accurate punches out of a total of 419 punches (44%). This was quite a disparity in comparison to Molina’s punches which the same stats revealed as 41 shots on target out of 287 shots (14%). The stats confirmed with no doubt that the Crawford-Molina fight was a mismatch.

Fighter of the Year contest

Terence Crawford has been a strong contender for the Fighter of the Year title following an impressive 2016 performance. It remains to be seen whether his display at Omaha on Saturday night will serve to give him favor with voters and earn him the prestigious boxing award. Whether he wins the award or not, Crawford sure managed to impress his massive Omaha fans on Saturday evening.