Terence Crawford celebrates his ninth-round TKO victory over Jeff Horn in their World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title fight Saturday at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Unbeaten Terence Crawford punished Jeff Horn en route to a ninth-round technical knockout to wrest the Australian’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight world title.

The American Crawford, the former undisputed super lightweight world title holder, outclassed the Aussie who was defending the title he won in a huge upset of Manny Pacquiao in July of last year in Brisbane.

Horn defended the belt with a technical knockout of Gary Corcoran in December, but he was dominated by Crawford all the way Saturday at the Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Crawford, who improved his record to 33-0 with 24 knockouts, battered Horn for eight rounds, knocking him down in the ninth with a flurry of blows.

Horn beat the count, but Crawford unleashed another barrage and referee Robert Byrd stop the fight at 2:33 of the round.

With the win Crawford claimed a world title in a third weight division.

He defeated Julius Indongo last August to become the undisputed super lightweight world champion.

A former WBO lightweight world champ, Crawford made the move up to welterweight in impressive fashion.

He won every round and was never really hurt by Horn, who fell to 18-1 with one draw and 12 knockouts.

A vocal Australian contingent among the crowd of 8,112 lustily backed Horn, but he was in trouble from the start as Crawford caught him with a hard left in just a few seconds.

Crawford, using his speed and his ability to switch stances to good effect, threw punches almost at will which Horn absorbed.

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