By Alexey Sukachev

Scottish Exhibition Centre, Glasgow, Scotland - Terence Crawford (23-0, 16KOs) won a twelve round unanimous decision over Ricky Burns (36-3-1, 11KOs) to capture the WBO lightweight title. The scores were 116-112 (Salven Laqumbay and Zoltan Enyedi) and 117-111 (Alejandro Lopez Cid). BoxingScene had it 118-111 for a newly crowned champion.

Crwaford's emergence was expected long ago, while Burns' reign seemed to last a little longer than expected. Both fighters were reserved in the first round, but it was Burns, whose jab was making waves in the opener. Crawford evened things up in the second, preventing Burns from scoring more jabs, while the third was virtually even.

Things got more interesting in the fifth, when Crawford started to show his own offensive skills. Still the fight was very tactical, both boxers trying to befuddle each other with tiny feints, jabs and lateral movement. But it was Crawford was one to break the tempo and to get the control of the fight. From that point, the outcome had been defined naturally.

Burns stood his ground in the seventh, trying to fight toe to toe with Crawford, but not for too long. Crawford was landing a hard jab and pushing the fight. In the eight, Crawford was punishing Burns and landing some heavy punches. Crawford continued to outland and outwork Burns in the championship rounds. In the twelfth, Crawford was pouring on the shots and trying to finish Burns off. The Scottish boxer stayed on his feet and lasted until the bell.