:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63648677/1144070111.jpg.0.jpg)
Terence Crawford looked en route to retaining his WBO welterweight title against Amir Khan in more satisfying fashion in the ESPN pay-per-view main event from Madison Square Garden, before the fight was ended in the sixth round after a low blow on Khan.
The victory was a TKO-6 for Crawford (35-0, 26 KO), but hardly a satisfying win for fight fans. Khan (33-5, 20 KO) was hit low, said he could “feel it in his stomach” and that his legs wouldn’t move, and trainer Virgil Hunter stopped the fight there.
Hunter probably suspected, as basically everyone watching did, that Khan was well behind on the scorecards. And, in fact, he was:
The judges scorecards before #CrawfordKhan was called off... pic.twitter.com/0t31dxCeCo
— Boxing on BT Sport (@BTSportBoxing) April 21, 2019
Crawford was leading 49-45, 49-5, and 50-44 when the fight was halted. Judge Guido Cavalleri gave Khan the second round and judge Steve Weisfeld had Khan winning the third, while judge Eric Marlinski had a clean sweep for the defending titleholder.
Khan had started taking something of a beating in the fourth and fifth rounds, and when the low blow landed in the sixth, it appears Hunter had simply seen enough.