Spence’s team may have been wearing "Smoking On Bud" T-shirts. And Crawford’s confidants may have pulled on their own merch that read, "NEBRASKA/FIST BATTERED/FISH FRY." Both boxers wore black Air Force 1 sneakers on their feet. Both chose those shoes intentionally, as a nod to a street code of sorts. Crawford spied Spence’s kicks and laughed. But when it came time for the menace, for two boxers who have traded insults and appraisals of their superiority for months now, to talk trash and clench teeth and inch closer, nothing of the sort actually happened.

Crawford knocked out a game David Avanesyan in the sixth round Saturday night at the CHI Heath Center. The fight was produced by BLK Prime. It was the 10th Crawford fight in a row to end via finish. The champ now has 30 wins via knockout.

Round 2: Donaire tracking the younger Santiago, but having difficulty getting past that jab. Counter left from Donaire connects. He advances with a combination. Good head movement from Donaire as he lands to the body. Santiago scores with a jab after a tight exchange. Glancing right by Donaire. Counter left by Donaire up top. Santiago throwing heavy hooks, he connects with a stiff one to the body.

One day, after a year in the gym, the coaches wanted to test his mettle. They threw him in the ring against an active fighter, much taller and stronger than Bud who quickly humbled the boy. Bud was heartbroken, but felt like he found his future. He just had to take a detour, first.

After a slow first round for both fighters, Crawford completely took over the fight. The first knockdown came off a counter jab followed by a left straight in the second round. To his credit, Spence beat the count and continued to try to make something happen, but Crawford was too fast, too technical and too powerful all night long.

Nevertheless he emerged for the eighth hoping to land one punch that could turn the fight around - but Crawford's superiority was entrenched and he boxed beautifully off his jab, bamboozling errol spence vs crawford stats at will with his speed and movement.

Porter presses forward to start the round and lands a clean jab up top. Check hook makes contact for Crawford. Porter gets in and wants to work his free hand until the referee breaks it. Porter lands a good right hook that his trainer was asking for. Jab lands clean for Crawford this time. Both fighters trade and Porter gets off more punches on the inside as Crawford tries to tie up. Crawford lands a body shot with his left hand to end the round.

Crawford is controlling the action by fighting behind his jab, which maintains distance that’s advantageous to him and sets up his power shots. Avanesyan continues to be relentless, though. Crawford will have to hurt him or break him down to slow him down. … Evidently Crawford’s gloves are torn.

With the win, Crawford unified the WBA, WBC and IBF titles with his WBO title and more importantly closed a longstanding debate over whether he or Spence was the best 147-pound fighter of the era. Crawford, who is also a former undisputed junior welterweight champion, also became the first male fighter to ever achieve undisputed status in two weight divisions in the modern four-belt era.

In March 2013, Crawford scored his biggest victory to date, a 10-round unanimous decision over Breidis Prescott. He followed that up with a sixth-round TKO of Alejandro Sanabria in June. Then that October, won a 10-round unanimous decision over the previously undefeated Alex Klimov.

Deep in the eastern shoe of the Rockies, at the foot of Pikes Peak about 70 miles from Denver, the champion descended the stairs of his heartland-inspired camp house — ambling past fitted hats from decades ago, tiptoeing through exoskeletons of go-karts he’d been tinkering with and old Everlast gear hugging pounds of dog food. His eyes were barely open, yawns still sticking to the scruff of his swollen beard, but he knew there was work to do. Even if it required his father, "Big T," to bang on the champ’s door — in scarlet and cream ‘Huskers pajamas no less — to get him going.

Crawford dropped Spence again twice in round seven and it was all-but over. With celebrities such as Chris Brown, Damian Lillard, Shannon Sharpe, Chance the Rapper and others pulling their phones out to capture the finish, Crawford took his time and tortured Spence with potshots.

Round 11: Madrimov storms out aggressive. Lots of feints and left hands coming from the champ right now. Crawford flurries and clinches. One-two from Crawford. Crawford puts together a slick three-punch combination, but Madrimov answers with a right hand that finds its mark. Crawford sneaks in a nice uppercut during a flurry. Madrimov pitches a right to the midsection. Huge counter left uppercut from Crawford! That was the best shot of the round. Madrimov clinches. Madrimov barely misses with a lunging left. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 Crawford. (105-104 Crawford.)

Round 2: Not much action during the first half of this round, with both fighters unsuccessfully trying to set traps for the each other. Both fighters trade fire, with the champ getting the better of the exchange in the center of the ring. You could see Crawford doing some real-time data analysis in the ring, trying to figure out "Mean Machine." (10-9, Crawford; 20-18 Crawford)