View the original article to see embedded media.
Ten rounds while eagerly awaiting this weekend’s Frank Martin-Michel Rivera fight …
10. Terence Crawford’s sixth-round knockout of David Avanesyan went about as I expected. Avanesyan was competitive early. But Crawford, a notoriously slow starter, got going in the third, slowing Avanesyan with withering body shots before eventually catching him upstairs with an uppercut-hook combination that ended the fight. It was a solid shake-off-the-rust win for Crawford and a nice payday (reportedly $10 million), but the question now is can Crawford rekindle talks with Errol Spence Jr.? There’s some healthy skepticism within the industry, with insiders noting that not only do the issues that scuttled negotiations in October still exist, but there is now a healthy distrust between Crawford and Al Haymon, Spence’s advisor. Perhaps Crawford, without an eight-figure offer to fall back on this time, will be more eager to close a deal.
