Terence Crawford dominates Viktor Postol, becomes junior welterweight unified champion

LAS VEGAS - Terence Crawford, already a two-division world titleholder and the 2014 fighter of the year, has been hailed by many as America's next big boxing star.

He went a long way toward living up to those lofty accolades as he took apart Viktor Postol in a masterful performance win a unanimous decision and to unify two junior welterweight world titles before 7,027 on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Crawford and Postol, both undefeated titleholders in their primes, were universally regarded as the two best 140-pounders in the world coming into the fight, so with the victory Crawford staked his indisputable claim to division supremacy and set himself up for much bigger business.

Crawford, who scored two knockdowns in the fifth round, won going away on all three scorecards: 118-107, 118-107 and 117-108. ESPN.com also scored the fight 118-107 for Crawford, who figures to rise on the mythical pound-for-pound list with this performance.

Besides unifying titles and maintaining his perfect record, the victory was huge for Crawford (29-0, 20 KOs) because going into the bout Top Rank promoter said the winner would be one of two leading candidates, along with welterweight titleholder Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs), to land a pay-per-view main event against Manny Pacquiao, who is coming out of a brief retirement, on Nov. 5 at the Thomas & Mack Center.