Terence Crawford’s advice helped Drew Dober find the finish at UFC 277

Dober met Crawford at B&B Boxing in Omaha, Nebraska, and recalls the boxer leaving him bloodied in their first sparring session. Years later, Crawford offered advice from the district, which Dober says helped him end Alves UFC 277 in Dallas.

How Terence Crawford helped Drew Dober adjust against Rafael Alves

Dober said Crawford switched to a southpaw to mirror his stance and left his nose bloody with a jab. He recalled that for every punch he tried to throw, he was hit by three strikes.

“Terence Crawford bled my nose in the first 30 seconds of our sparring. I was a young fighter at a gym in North Omaha,” wrote Dober Xs. “Never heard of the guy they called ‘Bud’. He saw I was a southpaw and switched to a southpaw too and jabbed me with one jab. I was bleeding like a stuck pig.”

Crawford attended Dober’s fight against Alves at UFC 277 in 2022. Dober said he had trouble making clean connection because of Alves’ head movement. When he returned to his corner after the opening round, he noticed Crawford calling from the front row and urging him to attack the body.

Dober followed that advice, scoring in the second round before knocking Alves out in the third round.

“In the fight against Rafael Alvestrying to hit him in the face, throwing punches, and this guy has amazing head movement…” Dober recalled. “After the first round, I go to my corner and I see Terence Crawford in that front row. And he’s just yelling at me, “Drew, Drew.” So, I look at him and he says, “Go to the body, go to the body.” I was thinking when Crawford says that. So on the second round I started going to the body and started to find success. So in the third round I threw a liver shot and dropped him with that liver shot.

Dober (29-15, 1 NC) has won his last two fights by stoppage and will face Chris Duncan (15-3) at UFC 334 November 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York.