NEW YORK _ An accidental low blow by Terence Crawford rendered Amir Khan unable to continue in their welterweight title fight Saturday night before 14,091 at Madison Square Garden.
As Khan was writhing in pain from the sixth-round blow, his trainer, Virgil Hunter, said Khan could no longer fight, making Crawford the winner by technical knockout.
"The coach stopped the fight," referee David Fields said.
Crawford (35-0, 26 knockouts) had knocked down Khan (33-5) in the first round on an overhand right to the top of the head. That harmed Khan's interest in trying to rack up some early rounds and eke out a decision. Instead, he was banged up and absorbed more hurtful blows in the next four rounds as Crawford, ranked the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter by the Los Angeles Times, delivered effective punches.
"I could tell I was breaking him down. It was just a matter of time," Crawford said. "I just took my time. I was disappointed the corner stopped the fight in that manner, but Virgil is a great coach, and he was looking out for his fighter. I know he didn't want to go out like that."
In the sixth, Crawford sent a forceful punch that clearly struck below the belt, and Khan bowed down in agony.
"Khan could have recovered. He had five minutes to recover. He was looking for a way out. He was looking for a place to fall," Crawford promoter Bob Arum said after the fight. "I don't think Khan wanted to continue, and the next round or two would've ended the fight anyway."
Said Crawford: "The fight I want next is Errol Spence. Whenever he is ready, he can come and get it."
In the warm-up to the main event, Teofimo Lopez showed he's in quite a hurry to become a world champion.
"I'm moving on to the main stage," Lopez (13-0, 11 knockouts) said after knocking out his fifth foe in five bouts at Madison Square Garden by finishing Finland's Edis Tatli 1 minute 32 seconds into the fifth round.
After Lopez watched the formidable Tatli stand up to early blows of the kind that allowed the 21-year-old Brooklyn phenom to overwhelm others on his quick rise, he began to batter Tatli (31-3) with hard punches in the fourth that reddened the Finn's face.
Lopez maintained the pressure in the fifth and delivered a hard right hand to the gut that caused Tatli to crumble to his knees on the canvas, and he failed to stand by the count of 10.
The victory moves Lopez to that main event he wants in July, when he's expected to challenge International Boxing Federation champion Richard Commey. Lopez hopes his path will lead him to an early 2020 showdown for all four lightweight belts against three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko.
"I want a world title shot next," Lopez said. "We promised to take over the show, and once again, I took it over."
Lopez referred to needing to shore up some issues in his training regimen _ likely nutrition _ after he was seven pounds over the 135-pound lightweight limit the night before Friday's weigh-in.
But that power punching, set up by his comfort in the pocket, is progressing and his insistence to prove his credentials against champions now makes the personable Lopez perhaps boxing's most intriguing young draw.
Earlier, Shakur Stevenson stepped up in class impressively by overwhelming recent 130-pound title challenger Christopher Diaz by unanimous-decision scores of 100-90, 99-91, 98-92 in a featherweight bout.
Stevenson, a 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist who occasionally spars with his close friend Crawford, showed the benefits of that work by complementing his gifted hand speed by fighting inside at times with Diaz. Stevenson (11-0) peppered Diaz (24-2) and rattled his head with a combination in the fifth, then buckled his knees with a left to the head in the sixth.
"He's a great fighter, but I came in there to outbox him, and that's exactly what I did," Stevenson said.
