Before the fight, many experts thought it was a 50/50 matchup. The fighters even bypassed their businessmen to start negotiations themselves, showing how much they wanted to make it happen.
Crawford dominated from the start, dropping Spence in the second round. He kept up the pressure, knocking Spence down twice more in the seventh round. The fight ended in the ninth round when Crawford scored a TKO victory.
With this win, Crawford became the undisputed champion and made history as the first boxer to achieve this in two weight divisions in the four-belt era.
After the fight, Crawford moved up to super-welterweight and won another world title by beating Israil Madrimov. Spence, on the other hand, hasn't fought since the loss.
Spence didn't take the defeat well at first. He admitted:
"No bulls**t – the first three months [after losing to Terence Crawford] I was waiting for someone in public to say something out of pocket in front of me. I was vulnerable to a lawsuit or something else around that time."
Later, Spence came to terms with the loss. When asked to sum up his performance in five words, he said:
"I got my ass beat"
He expanded on this, saying:
"Yeah, I got my ass beat – s**t was past due. I didn't live exactly like a boxer for the most part."
There's talk of Spence moving up to super-welterweight. He's been linked to a fight with Sebastian Fundora for the WBC Super-welterweight title, but nothing's been officially announced yet. The WBC has Spence ranked as their number one contender in the division.
Some rumors suggest Spence might be dealing with another eye injury, but he's denied these claims. When asked about possible retirement due to eye issues, Spence responded:
"if it doesn't come from me [it's trash]."
Fans will have to wait and see what's next for Spence as he looks to bounce back from his first professional loss.