Video: Terence Crawford schools Jeff Horn, stops him in ninth round

Australia’s Jeff Horn (18-1-1, 12 KOs) suffered the first loss of his professional career, as the slickness and technical mastery of Nebraska’s Terence Crawford (33-0, 24 KOs) were too much for him to handle. Crawford took Horn’s WBO welterweight title, making him a world champion on his third different weight class.

This really wasn’t much of a competitive fight. Horn’s roughhousing and wrestling didn’t work, and he was getting counterpunched repeatedly. He had very little meaningful offensive success, and the speed and timing of Crawford was simply phenomenal.

To Horn’s credit, he showed a fantastic chin, but even that finally wilted in the 9th round, as Crawford was able to makes his gloves touch the canvas for a knockdown. Referee Robert Byrd, knowing that Horn was just about out on his feet in the previous round and dominated throughout the contest, intervened and stopped the beating as Crawford pressed for the finish. Isolated, it looks like an early stoppage, but in the scope of the whole fight, it was best for Horn’s safety. Unlike the controversial Manny Pacquiao win, there’s no upset to be had here.

Check out the highlights from Las Vegas in the clips below: