Terence Crawford vs. John Molina: Winner, Recap and Reaction

Boxing is a dangerous, difficult sport, but Terence "Bud" Crawford has a knack for making it look all too easy at times. 

Fighting in front of a favorable hometown crowd at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska

, on Saturday night, Crawford (30-0, 21 KOs) ran circles around challenger John Molina Jr. (29-7, 23 KOs), defeating him via an eighth-round technical knockout with breathtaking ease. 

The fight was a series of increasingly desperate rounds for Molina, who simply had no answer for Crawford's timing, movement and precision. After taking seven-plus rounds of punishment, Molina goaded Crawford into a slugfest in the eighth, and the champion responded by pummeling him into a corner and forcing the referee to step in between the two and call the bout. 

Here's a look at the end of the bout, via HBO Boxing:

Ring summed it up in two short sentences:

The stakes for the bout dropped considerably when Molina showed up at the pre-fight weigh-in four pounds over the 140-pound limit. Since Molina couldn't drop the necessary weight after the first failed weigh-in, Crawford did not have to put his WBC and WBO world lightweight titles on the line, per ESPN.com's Dan Rafael.

Of course, the stakes don't seem to matter much to Crawford. The same goes for opponents' styles, sizes and techniques. He has the tools to overcome them all. 

Molina showed another level in his upset win over Ruslan Provodnikov in June. He jabbed his way to a decision victory in this one, an encouraging development and one that he might've been able to combine with his superior height and reach over Crawford to strong effect.

Unfortunately for Molina, that was decidedly not the case. 

Crawford came out a bit quicker than he has in some of his more recent fights, effortlessly switching from orthodox to southpaw in the first round and settling into a comfortable in-and-out rhythm early on in the contest.

HBO Boxing provided highlights from the first round: 

Powerful left shots to the body had Molina rattled early on, and it wasn't long before he was holding on to Crawford and pawing away shots that came hard and fast to his head.

Boxing journalist Michael Woods noted Molina was having trouble moving early on: 

Despite having difficulty following Crawford around the ring, Molina's toughness was readily apparent and got him into a few good spots. He landed a fine right-handed hook in the third round that backed up Crawford and kept the Omaha native on his back foot for stretches of the fourth.

The brief flashes for Molina still paled in comparison to Crawford's overall brilliance. The 27-year-old fought his fight, circling around the ring and timing his spots carefully. He strung two- and three-punch combos together with ease, landing punches at odd angles and at times making Molina look like he was trying to fight in the swirl of a hurricane. 

HBO Boxing provided commentary from Harold Lederman on the one-sided nature of this bout:

The sixth round was especially brilliant for Crawford. A pair of left uppercuts to the gut knocked the wind out of Molina, who promptly leaned on Crawford to catch his breath. Soon after breaking out of the hold, Molina stepped right into a stinging jab to the nose, looking like the classic bit of a cartoon character stepping onto a rake.

Molina kept coming forward, but USA Today's Bob Velin passed along comments from HBO commentator Max Kellerman that suggest it wasn't pretty:

Crawford never really let Molina line him up for a big shot after that third-round blast, rendering the latter's considerable power moot. 

He kept a good bounce around the ring, moving around from side to side and catching an increasingly off-kilter Molina with wide-open shots to the jaw that he had no chance of defending. It was akin to watching someone play an increasingly difficult game of Whack-A-Mole, only if the moles had mallets of their own to hit back.

Actress Rosie Perez expressed surprise once the fight reached the eighth round: 

Perez wouldn't be surprised much longer, as Molina failed to reach the next bell. Crawford landed a pair of big shots, backed his opponent into the corner and signed off on the fight with a flourish. 

Molina has now lost six of his last 11 bouts and has now been stopped three times in his career. The win over Provodnikov earlier in the year might prove to be a high-water mark for the later stage of his career, as he's unlikely to get many big chances to show himself moving forward.

Crawford must now seek out the biggest and best challenges he can find. His unanimous-decision win over Viktor Postol in July was a major stepping stone for his career.

A fight with Manny Pacquiao is the big-ticket possibility if Crawford makes the jump to the welterweight division and the Filipino superstar is indeed game. It would be a major treat for boxing fans, as Crawford has proven himself time and time again as a fighter who always brings sublime stuff into the ring.