GIF: Terence Crawford stops Yuriorkis Gamboa in nine rounds

Terence Crawford met the best opponent of his pro career tonight, and it appears that so did Yuriorkis Gamboa. Crawford stopped Gamboa in the ninth round after four knockdowns in the fight, with one in the fifth, one in the eighth, and two in the ninth, successfully defending his WBO lightweight title in front of just under 11,000 screaming fans in Omaha.

Here are the two ninth round knockdowns:

Crawford (24-0, 17 KO) may have had a star-making, breakout-style performance for U.S. audiences tonight, ending up dominating the highly-touted and long-hyped Gamboa (23-1, 16 KO). Realistically, Gamboa's fighting out of his weight at 135 pounds, but he started this fight very well, and it was up to Crawford to adjust. Crawford did that, and showed the sort of elite poise and calmness that he's becoming quickly known for. Nothing so far in his pro career has unnerved him, and tonight he took that to another level, disposing of a very skilled opponent who fought his heart out and never gave up on the bout.

GIF credit: Zombie Prophet