Terence Crawford,left,knocks Jeff Horn,of Australia,off balance.

Terence Crawford,left,knocks Jeff Horn,of Australia,off balance.Credit:John Locher

Horn was wobbled in the eighth,then given a standing count in the ninth. With 27 seconds to go in the round,referee Robert Byrd had seen enough,waving it off as Crawford swaggered towards the Horn camp in the blue corner.

Horn would say he felt he could go on,a sentiment backed by his trainer Glenn Rushton and promoter Dean Lonergan. But most felt it was the right decision,including his family,and with none of the judges giving him a single round to that point,it was pointless to continue.

"I definitely had more in me. I thought it was a bit early. But he was just trying to look after me.[Wife] Jo would have been extremely happy about it. It wasn't going my way but I feel like I lifted in those championship rounds."

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Horn would have needed a piano to fall on Crawford by that point and there were some that wondered whether Rushton should have called for the towel after eight rounds. As it ended,Horn walked away in decent enough shape and may come to appreciate Byrd's intervention.

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The lingering question over Crawford was how strong he would be at welterweight and whether his punching power would hold up as he went up to his third division. That was answered early in the fight and Horn didn't take long to realise his major advantage didn't exist.

"[His power] was decent. You don't want to get hit by him. The power was there. I definitely didn't want to get hit by him,"Horn said.

"Pretty quickly I figured out that he was very crafty,very good on the gap. He figured out when I was coming in at him and he was measuring that distance very well. He is a good boxer. I should have poured the pressure on a bit more earlier."

Class:Terence Crawford works his jab on the way to victory over Jeff Horn.

Class:Terence Crawford works his jab on the way to victory over Jeff Horn.Credit:AP

Top Rank supremo Bob Arum,who has now finished his contractual obligations with Horn,said he would have the Australian on an ESPN card in the future. Names like Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter,who fight for the vacant WBC title in August,were mentioned.

"Absolutely. I think he's a courageous fighter. He was in with a super-elite fighter. Let's see him fight with regular welterweights. We have a whole bunch of them that fight for Top Rank,"Arum said.

"If Glenn wants to bring him over and fight in the United States,I'd love to put him on a card."

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