The WBO fight between the defender Terrence Crawford and Amir Khan did not live to the expectations of any after it ended immaturely in the sixth round moments after the latter quit midway.
Obviously, the bout was headed for the wrong direction for Amir and the weight from his competitors blow that hit him on his groin was strong enough to have him quit although he claimed he as forced to by his corner.
Terence Crawford taunted Amir Khan after the controversial end to their fight in New York.
An accidental shot to Khan’s groin in the sixth round saw trainer Virgil Hunter pull the Brit, with Khan in “too much” pain.
WBO welterweight champion Crawford had dominated the fight until that point, flooring Khan in the opening round.
Legally Khan was allowed five minutes to recover, but after a minute of discussions with his corner, the bell sounded.
“I couldn’t continue as the pain was too much” declared Khan.
But Crawford, who continues to boast a perfect record, says Khan wasn’t interested in continuing.
“I saw Amir Khan’s face change and he was shaking his head,” said Crawford. “I was disappointed the whole time because I thought he was looking for a way out.
“He and Virgil were having a conversation, I don’t know what the conversation was, but Amir just kept shaking his head and I was ‘aah nah, he’s going to quit’. I was right, that’s what happened. Not the way I would have liked to have finished the fight.
“But Virgil is in his corner for a reason and that’s to look after his fighter and he felt his fighter didn’t want to fight anymore so he stopped the fight.”
Crawford declared that he “outboxed” Khan throughout their Madison Square Garden showdown.
The 31-year-old was leading 49-45 50-44 49-45 on the cards and when Khan responded to claims he had quit in their post-fight press conference, Crawford interrupted: “Did you quit? Tell the truth.”
Crawford added: “I always knew in my heart that I could outbox him, we both said we had never been outboxed but now we know the truth.
“I was picking up the intensity and he was looking for a way out, I hit him on the leg and his coach wanted to pull him out.
“I did not feel anything from him, I felt physically stronger and I punch harder, people in this division think they will be bigger and stronger than me but I have stopped every welterweight and been stronger.
“People always think I am little until they get in the ring with me.”
On changing his style mid-fight, starting out in an orthodox stance before switching to southpaw, Crawford said: “I wanted to show people I didn’t have to be southpaw, I only switched to it after two rounds to mess with his head.
“I dropped him orthodox and he said he was the southpaw slayer so I wanted to show him and I dominated him.”
