Weekend Boxing Results, Apr. 22

Crawford is looking amazing right now!

He scores the first round knockdown!#CrawfordKhan pic.twitter.com/nLm5jTI5E3

— On The Ropes (@OTRboxingshow) April 21, 2019

Terence Crawford Dominates Amir Khan, Calls Out Errol Spence Jr.

That may have been the worst possible scenario for Amir Khan. Khan’s modus operandi has always been that of a lightning fast boxer whose porcelain chin costs him against the most elite fighters in boxing. So while a first-round KO -- which almost happened -- would have been embarrassing, you could say Khan’s chin just failed him once again.

Instead, Khan was outboxed by an orthodox Terence Crawford, a southpaw Terence Crawford, was knocked down, hurt numerous times and ultimately quit after getting hit by a low blow. Immediately, Khan was attacked for cowardice despite the fact that it was abundantly clear Crawford by stoppage was the only possible way this fight was going to end.

Khan insisted he didn’t quit and that he was hit in the balls, while Crawford laughed at both of those ideas (Twitter is full of shots of Khan getting hit seemingly in the thigh). Khan also posted on Twitter “Peeing blood. The shot was low. The fight was just getting interesting.” All three judges’ scorecards had Crawford winning the last two rounds of the fight, so what was getting interesting about the fight from Khan’s perspective is hugely unclear.

The low blow that caused Khan to quit in round 6. Khan had 5 minutes to recover but took less than 1 before telling his corner he couldn’t continue. DQ happens only when a low blow is intentional. Looks like most iv not all hits his Groin. #CrawfordKhan pic.twitter.com/qleVwZ6RGe

— BOXING CORNER (@boxingcorner247) April 21, 2019

After the fight, all eyes turned to a potential Crawford-Errol Spence Jr. matchup. Crawford sent out the Forrest Gump running gif on social media, while Bob Arum proposed that fans stop watching Al Haymon/PBC events until they make the fight happen.

Arum said, "Look, no bulls---, I'm all in. We'll do 50-50 and split the TV with both ESPN and Fox, or whoever they want to use. Do it like we did for Floyd and Manny. It's easy. We want the fight and Terence wants the fight. We are not standing in the way of this fight and we are doing everything we can to get it done. Haymon won't even talk about it."

A couple of things about this. One, Arum’s is in a bit of trouble because Al Haymon has a ton of good welterweights, while he doesn’t’ have any, especially after Mean Machine looked so bad against Ray Robinson. Two, social media rumors have Arum talking about sending Crawford to the UK to face Kell Brook, so the idea that he’s “all in” on Crawford-Spence is obviously not 100 percent true.

Trying to organize a boycott of your No. 1 competitor while negotiating another fight behind everyone’s back, all the while publicly claiming that it’s Crawford-Spence or bust, is very clever. Bob Arum might be 87 years old, but he’s an 87-year-old Harvard law graduate.

Shakur Stevenson Looks Amazing in Easy Decision Victory over Diaz.

This was supposed to be the step-up fight for Shakur Stevenson. This was supposed to be a tough matchup. This was supposed to be exciting. This was a complete and total mismatch.

Shakur Stevenson beat Puerto Rico’s Christopher “Pitufo” Diaz by a unanimous 98-92, 99-91, 100-90, decision on Saturday night. Whichever three rounds the judges scored for Diaz were an early Easter present, because Stevenson was far too fast and far too good throughout the night. How good is the former Olympic silver medalist? Well, before the fight Top Rank’s people were worried about how quickly he was rising up the featherweight ranks, that they viewed Diaz is a huge risk to take at this point in his career.

But after seeing what he did to Diaz, matching Stevenson with anyone but a world champion seems pointless. Stevenson called out Josh Warrington who owns the IBF featherweight title, but there was a super featherweight champion that hopped on Twitter to troll Stevenson after the win, and if you didn’t know it was going to be Gervonta Davis, then you haven’t been paying attention.

Yes, the man Vasiliy Lomachenko mockingly called “the best boxer on Twitter” took offense to Stevenson bringing his name up as a future opponent and tweeted “Shakur, you good but stop calling me out please and the rest of you babies.” Stevenson responded that Chris Diaz was better than Tank’s last three opponents and, “I’m just a contender he’s a WORLD CHAMPION appreciate the compliment tho champ lol,” then “And I’m calling out a man I been in the ring with before several times... don’t let that go over y’all head.” Finally, “Tank” declared “What you saying...you ain’t do shit when we sparred.”

Stevenson is only 21 years old and 11 fights into his professional career, but because of how he performed on Saturday night he has the attention of every champion at 126 and 130.

Teofimo Lopez Stops Edis Tatli, Wants Lomachenko

Shakur Stevenson isn’t the only up-and-coming prospect that appears and thinks he’s ready for one of the biggest names in boxing. Teofimo Lopez tore through Edis Tatli, ultimately knocking him out with a straight right hand to the body. This was the first time in 33 professional fights Tatli had been stopped as a professional.

What comes next for Lopez is interesting. See, Lopez has been calling out guys like Richard Commey and Luke Campbell. Both of those guys have been linked to future fights with Vasiliy Lomachenko. But after his KO of Tatli, Lopez decided to skip the middlemen bouts that will prove he’s good enough to beat Lomachenko and wants a shot at the pound-for-pound king himself.

If Loma can’t get Mikey Garcia into the ring for a unification bout -- and it’s unlikely he can -- he’ll be put in an interesting position. Lopez would sell better than Commey, but not better than Campbell, especially if Loma is willing to go to the U.K. However, because Lomachenko has so few opponents available, if Lopez starts picking them off, the fight will have to happen much sooner than people expected.

Would Lomachenko be willing to get the Lopez fight out of the way next, and when it came time to pull the trigger, would Lopez really be willing to fight Lomachenko in just his 14th fight as a professional, without the long amateur experience Lomachenko had? We’ll see.

Felix Verdejo Fails to Impress in Unanimous Decision Victory

It seems like a lifetime ago that Felix Verdejo was HBO’s darling, and Puerto Rico’s next boxing superstar. And while Verdejo would beat Bryan Vasquez by a unanimous 98-92, 97-93, 97-93 decision, he was far from impressive.

In what was supposed to be an easy fight, Verdejo’s struggles had Tim Bradley openly questioning Verdejo’s heart saying, “Guys, I think it's a heart thing... I don't think he has the heart and the desire to do it at the top level," then calling for Verdejo to get a new trainer because his style is so predictable. Those are rough criticisms, and considering Bradley isn’t known to be a Verdejo hater just show poorly he has progressed as a fighter. That is not what Top Rank was looking for when they put him on this card, and that is not a good sign for his future.

Danny Garcia Stops Adrian Granados in Seven

In what was a must-win fight for Danny Garcia, he showed up in a major way. Garcia stopped Adrian Granados in the seventh round of a fight he was dominating, which included him knocking down the Mexican veteran three times. With the much-needed win, Garcia remained in the welterweight title picture, although with so much of the top talent booked, and him having already lost to the PBC’s best welterweights not named Errol Spence Jr., it is unclear whom he would be fighting next.

Andy Ruiz Stops Alexander Dimitrenko, Likely to Fight Kownacki

Andy Ruiz, the Mexican heavyweight who has still not lost to anyone but Joseph Parker, picked up another victory on Saturday night. He stopped Alexander Dimitrenko, when Dimitrenko failed get off his stool at the beginning of the sixth round.

While Ruiz was hoping to be the replacement for Jarrell Miller and fight Anthony Joshua in June, it’s far more likely that he will fight Adam Kownacki next. That fight could be very important in determining which man has a future in the division, although it would be aesthetically unpleasing and would encourage a lot of fat jokes on social media which would be a sad distraction considering the quality of boxing that would be on display.

Dave Allen Stops Lucas Browne With Left Hook to the Body

One clean left hook to the body was all it took for Dave Allen to upset Lucas Browne in a fight that was supposed to be a slugfest, but ended up only being a three-round affair. Allen was getting beat up early on but landed the clean shot and left his Australian foe writhing in pain on the canvas. Allen will never be a world champion, and this fight may not have lived up to the hype, but that was one nice left hook.

Alfredo Angulo Snaps Two-Fight Losing Streak

Alfredo Angulo beat Evert Bravo this weekend, snapping a two-fight losing streak. He is 36 years old, and it is shocking that “El Perro” is still fighting.

Denis Berinchyk Wins After Insane Entrance.

Denis #Berinchyk Crazy Ring Entrance pic.twitter.com/qKFhnLCKdc

— UkraineBoxingPRO (@UkraineAtamans) April 20, 2019

Ukranian Denis Berinchyk beat Nihito Arakawa by unanimous decision this weekend, after making this insane entrance into the ring. I didn’t understand any of it, but I loved all of it.