by: Jeff Sorby

After a slow start in the first five rounds, former WBO lightweight champion and 2014 Fighter of the Year Terence Crawford (26-0, 18 KOs) came on to score a 6th round stoppage victory over Thomas Dulorme (22-2, 12 KOs) to win the vacant WBO light welterweight title at the University of Texas, in Arlington, Texas, USA.

Crawford struggled in the first five rounds with the speed and power of Dulorme, but in the 6th, Crawford suddenly erupted for three knockdowns of Dulorme. The referee Rafael Ramos halted the fight at 1:51 of the 6th following the third knockdown of Dulorme in the round. Dulorme had fallen back down while trying to get up, and this convinced Ramos that he should stop the fight.

Dulorme looked good in the first five rounds with him staying busy with his speedy power shots. Crawford looked cautious about letting his hands go in any real way because each time he would, Dulorme would nail him with bigger shots of his own. Crawford said after the fight that it was by design that he wasn’t throwing a lot of shots in the first five rounds, but it looked more like a case of him being rightfully worried about the superior power from Dulorme. There was no question that Dulorme had the better power of the two, but what he didn’t have was the better chin.

It was no unexpected that Dulorme would get knocked out by Crawford, because we are talking about a fighter who’d previously been halted by Luis Carlos Abregu in a 7th round stoppage in 2012. Dulorme was dominated by Abregu from start to finish in that fight. After that fight, Dulorme won his next six fights until getting halted by Crawford.