Crawford knocks out Avanesyan with right hand in sixth round to retain title

As expected, Terence Crawford was no match for David Avanesyan.

In front of a hometown crowd, the reigning WBO welterweight titleholder scored a sixth-round TKO on Saturday at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The unbeaten Crawford connected with a left uppercut followed by a right hook to the jaw that put Avanesyan flat on his back to end the fight.

"I started picking up the pace, planting my feet, and I caught him with a hook," Crawford said in the post-fight interview on BLK Prime.

Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs), who was coming off a year-long layoff, bided his time at the beginning of the fight, allowing Avanesyan (29-4-1, 17 KOs) the opportunity to land the first significant shot of the fight, which he did. The Russian challenger landed an overhand right.

Once Crawford began to connect with his lead right hand and got into a rhythm, the end was coming for Avanesyan.

In the fifth round, Crawford let his hands go and connected with a series of uppercuts on the inside. And in the sixth, the same punch was critical in setting up the right hook over the top that crumbled Avanesyan to the canvas.

"I was just warming up in the earlier rounds," Crawford, who picked up his 10th consecutive knockout, stated. "My coach [trainer Brian McIntyre] told me, I can sit down there if I'm comfortable and pick my shots."

The win was Crawford's first fight since November 2021, when, in a career-best performance, he stopped Shawn Porter in Las Vegas. Immediately following the bout, Crawford announced his departure from Top Rank to make the fight with three-belt unified titleholder Errol Spence Jr., who fights for Premier Boxing Champions. However, the 35-year-old southpaw backed out of negotiations to take a stay-busy fight with Avanesyan and a $7 million guarantee.

"This was a one-fight deal [with BLK Prime]," Crawford said. "Hopefully, we can go to the drawing board and these big fights come about in the near future."