Amir Khan has insisted he couldn’t continue in his bout with Terence Crawford after pulling out following an accidental low blow in round six.
The Briton was behind on all three judge’s scorecards when Sunday’s fight was called to a halt at the midway point, Khan’s corner deciding to wave off the contest after the challenger had taken an accidental shot below the belt in the sixth.
The former light-welterweight could have taken five minutes to recover from the low blow but needed less than a minute to decide he couldn’t continue, handing the unbeaten Crawford the 35th win of his career via TKO.
The sound of the final bell was greeted by boos from the Madison Square Garden fans, while Crawford accused his opponent of quitting post-match.
Khan says that isn’t the case and insists he would rather be knocked out than quit mid-fight, insisting he just couldn’t carry on. “I could feel it in my stomach and legs. I said ‘I can’t move’,” Khan said. “There was no point taking five minutes out, I could not continue. I am not one to give up.
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I was hit by a hard shot below the belt. “I couldn’t continue as the pain was too much. I have never been hit below the belt and was in pain. “I want to apologise to all of the fans.
The fight was just getting interesting.” Khan looked nervy when coming to the ring and was put down in the opening round by the WBO welterweight champion, while he took several hard body shots in the fourth as he found Crawford’s movement too much to handle.
Having eventually been awarded the win via stoppage after several minutes of confusion, Crawford called out IBF champion Errol Spence Jr.
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