Terence Crawford KOs Julius Indongo in third to become first undisputed champ in 12 years

He may not admit it, but Terence Crawford has always needed to prove himself.

On Saturday night, The Pride of Omaha silenced any doubters and critics he might still have with a quick and impressive, if not spectacular, performance in front of a sold-out, partisan crowd at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Nebraska's capital of Lincoln and a national audience on ESPN.

Crawford ended a one-sided affair in the third round when he landed a vicious left followed by a right to the body of Julius Indongo, and put the champion from the tiny African nation of Namibia on the canvas for the second time. This time Indongo was not getting up as he writhed in pain from the liver shot.

Referee Jack Reiss counted Indongo out at 1:38 of the third round, and Crawford remained undefeated and more important, became boxing's first undisputed champion in any weight class in a dozen years. In this case, it's the super lightweight (140-pound) class.

Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) needed less than eight minutes to make a strong case to be the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He looked so much quicker and far more skilled than Indongo (22-1, 11 KOs), who was unknown a year ago before his stunning first-round knockout of IBF champion Eduard Troyanovsky in Moscow last December, then his victory against  Ricky Burns in April in Scotland to add the WBA belt to his collection.

But on Saturday, he was no match for Crawford, who landed 59% of his power punches against the taller but slower and less polished Indongo. Crawford switched stances effortlessly during the fight, going from southpaw to orthodox whenever he felt the need and was brilliant with his counter-punching, as Indongo left himself open time and time again.

Crawford was humbled by his rare accomplishment.

"It feels great, like a dream come true," the 29-year-old Crawford said of being the undisputed  champion. "I want to thank everyone who came out. I want to thank Nebraska (and) America. I did this for all of us."

Crawford is the first undisputed champion in the four-belt era since Jermain Taylor in 2005. Taylor took all four of the major middleweight belts from Bernard Hopkins, who had become undisputed champion earlier in 2005 with his victory against Oscar De La Hoya, now his business partner.

"Belts matter," Crawford said. "I'm the only one who can be labeled as champion at 140 (pounds) and that's a big deal to me."

Crawford barely broke a sweat in taking it to Indongo from the opening bell. He picked indongo apart, taking advantage of his edge in quickness, and Indongo's slow, sweeping punches.

He knocked Indongo down in the second round before finishing the show a round later.

"We've been practicing on body shots all camp and everything we worked on in camp came out in the fight," he said. "I feel like I didn't even fight." 

Crawford believes he can make a case for ascending to the No. 1 pound-for-pound throne, a position now held by his friend, Andre Ward, who was doing the ringside analysis for ESPN.

"Andre Ward is one of my favorite fighters, but I have to top him on this one," Crawford said with a smile.

A simple family man with the simple nickname of "Bud", Crawford was asked where he goes from here. Will he stay at 140 pounds and defend his four belts, or move up a weight class to welterweight, where the competition is much stronger?

"I'm going fishing next," he said, "then I'm going to rest up with my family, and then my coaches and my managers are going to see what's next for me."