It wasn’t the left/right combination in the second round.
It wasn’t the two knockdowns in the seventh.
And it wasn’t the barrage in the ninth that finally forced Harvey Dock’s hand.
No, the moment Terence Crawford won his fight with Errol Spence Jr. on Saturday night coincided with the moment Eminem stepped from behind a curtain, sidled up alongside the reigning WBO welterweight champion and strolled toward the ring with him as “Lose Yourself” echoed through T-Mobile Arena.
From that point forward – outside of a tense, competitive first round – Spence didn’t stance a chance.
But it wasn’t just “Bud” and his Nebraska support system earning the victory.
For the first time in forever, the sport as a whole came out on top when matched head to head against the UFC, which was going live with its own pay-per-view show a few hundred miles up I-15 in Utah.
Before you ask, no. It’s not based on buy rate numbers.
As of Monday evening, I’d not yet stumbled across empirical evidence whether more folks had gone for the Spence-Crawford show at $84.99 per or the UFC 291 event headlined by would-be BMFs Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier for $79.99 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
Regardless of how those statistics wind up shaking out, it doesn’t matter.
Boxing still won the night.
It hadn’t been the case so much lately with events not promoted by Top Rank, but Spence-Crawford was unquestionably a “lead story on SportsCenter” type of fight.
And the media buzz carried over to the sports fan public (from average Joes to celebrities like the artist also known as Marshall Mathers), which seemed genuinely interested in a match between pound-for-pound elites where neither man seemed like a slam-dunk pick going in.
Not social media stand-ins. Not unproven promotional pretenders. Legit world champions.
Poirier and Gaethje are big boy fighters and their scrap, albeit short, delivered everything that Dana White and Co. had advertised. But where they are perhaps becoming the Octagon’s version of Gatti and Ward, the Spence-Crawford rivalry – at least heading into the weekend – was on a higher skill level.
Somewhere above De La Hoya-Trinidad and beneath Leonard-Hearns if you like.
“Ray’s public persona was built by ABC at Montreal ’76,” ex-HBO blow-by-blow man Jim Lampley told Boxing Scene. “Cosell called those amateur fights. Being from inner-city Detroit as opposed to a D.C. suburb, Tommy was the perfect cultural counterpoint. Story was rich with black American symbolism.
“Omaha vs. Dallas? Not so much.”
Regardless of where the fight belongs on the all-time spectrum at 147, Eminem was a highlight.
And the goosebump moment he provided set the Tuesday Morning Team to wax nostalgic about three particular in-house instances where walkouts provided chills well before the opening bell.
For the first, credit needs to be given where credit is due.
Though it came out on the short end Saturday night, the UFC in 2023 has amped-up an already unique ability to create atmosphere at its venues – this time with a 30th anniversary highlight montage set to The Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” which blares through arenas and cranks the intensity level to 11.
Combine it with Bruce Buffer’s incomparable intro style and it makes for a unique experience anywhere, but the vibe for a PPV show in Miami in April – with an ex-president riding shotgun to Kid Rock at cageside – was simply unforgettable.
Memory No. 2 refers to a pair of welterweights who reigned shortly before Spence and Crawford.
When Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley got together at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for the so-called rubber match of a series the Filipino had all but dominated across two fights, it was difficult to know what to expect.
Pacquiao was 2-0 in the eyes of all but Brian Kenny and Bradley’s relatives, but “Desert Storm” had climbed the pound-for-pound list with two wins since their last fight while “Pac Man” was only 11 months removed from a schooling at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr.
But when he emerged from the locker room to the strains of Katy Perry’s “Roar,” it was over.
And 12 rounds later – eight of which Bradley lost – so was the beaten man’s career.
Last but not least, it’s another 10 years in the way-back machine.
Wladimir Klitschko retired after dominating the heavyweight division with a Steelhammer fist but in late 2006 he was preparing for a first defense after having dethroned Chris Byrd seven months earlier.
And though the record shows Calvin Brock was 29-0 as he made his ring walk, from the instant Anthony Kiedis’ voice began pouring through the speakers at Madison Square Garden, the mismatch was on.
The song was “Can’t Stop.” And as Lampley put it during Klitschko’s stroll toward the stairs and ultimately through the ropes, it was a case of “extreme Prince Naseem Hamed-style theatricality.”
Brock simply couldn’t compete. With the style before the fight or the substance during it.
* * * * * * * * * *
This week’s title-fight schedule:
No title fights scheduled.
Last week’s picks: 3-1 (WIN: Ramirez, Crawford, Santiago; LOSS: Fulton)
2023 picks record: 26-10 (72.2 percent)
Overall picks record: 1,276-418 (75.3 percent)
NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body’s full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA “world championships” are only included if no “super champion” exists in the weight class.
Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.