The Mancunian executed arguably some of the best tactics seen in a professional boxing for a some time.
It was a good start for challenger Ismael Barroso when the first bell rang, who went to the body well and started with a fast tempo, but Crolla was making him to work every second of the opening rounds.
It could be argued that Crolla was slightly outworked in the first two rounds, as the game plan looked to be one of soaking up some early punishment to tire the big punching Barroso out.
This ‘drawing the steam’ type tactics appeared to have their first positive sign of implementation in the third, as Barroso missed with some wild swings at times which allowed Crolla to land the more eye catching shots – one particularly nice right hand counter.
After a huge effort in the early rounds it looked like Barroso began to get tired in round 5, getting more ragged in his work, allowing for Crolla to ping him with solid jabs and straight shots.
Momentum and the tide had turned in Crolla’s favour by this point and as round 6 got underway, it was clear to see that trainer Joe Gallagher had gotten his tactics spot on for his charge on the night.
Barroso’s legs had totally gone by the sixth and after shipping some big shots from Crolla, Barroso went down towards the end of the round, perhaps more out of exhaustion than anything.
The challenger barely survived to the 7th round.
A stunning body shot saw the fight ended in the 7th, giving Anthony Crolla a genuinely sensationally win in front of his home fans.
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