“Terence Crawford made a mess of Hank Lundy at the Theater in Madison Square Garden last night, hammering Lundy to a fifth round stoppage just as an overwhelming favorite should. It was a typical Crawford performance: one where the opponent feels himself in the fight, until suddenly (for the opponent) and inevitably (for Crawford) the only tenable outcome becomes clear. Lundy, the self-professed “Uncrowned Champion,” remained crown-less; Crawford kept his own bauble, and the HBO commentary troupe worked up the usual lather about what mayhem Crawford might visit on opponents far better than the ones the network approves for him.”

Read Disassembly Line: Terence Crawford TKO5 Hank Lundy on The Cruelest Sport.

“Crawford, who faces Hank Lundy in the main event of the HBO Championship Boxing card from Madison Square Garden in New York, is not facing Manny Pacquiao, as rumors ultimately as hollow as they were well-placed encouraged us to believe. But his rejection as the Filipino’s first final opponent reflects how formidable a fighter Crawford has become. It was not finances that prompted Team Pacquiao to choose Tim Bradley a third time, but preservation. Bradley is the more familiar fighter, yes, he is more proven; Crawford is better. Just how much better is something neither the brain trust of a 37-year-old veteran of 65 fights, nor the fighter himself, is interested in presently determining.”

Read Idle Ceremony: Terence Crawford-Hank Lundy Preview on The Cruelest Sport.

“Sergey Kovalev did not, as he promised, retire Jean Pascal at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, on Saturday night. Pascal, kept on his stool at the end of the seventh round, will fight again; he will have as little difficulty finding a trainer willing to salvage and refurbish him as he will an opponent looking for a career best win. What he will not find, however, is the vitality Kovalev beat out of him. That beating—cynical, protracted, delivered with a calm born not of emotional detachment but of genuine relish—will forever be linked to the man who applied it.”

Read Make Him More Pain: Sergey Kovalev TKO7 Jean Pascal on The Cruelest Sport.