By Keith Idec

Terence Crawford feels as though he has done enough in 2016 to warrant winning “Fighter of the Year” awards.

Crawford dominated John Molina Jr. on his way to an eighth-round stoppage Saturday night in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. The win was Crawford’s third impressive victory in as many fights this year, yet two of those wins came in what amounted to HBO showcase bouts against overmatched opponents (Molina and Hank Lundy).

The undefeated Crawford explained during a post-fight press conference Saturday night that his performances against the hard-hitting Molina, of Covina, California, and Philadelphia’s Lundy were especially impressive because other opponents hadn’t beaten them in such convincing fashion.

“I think I made my case tonight, like I did all year long,” Crawford said. “I showed I was a finisher. Only [Antonio] DeMarco had stopped [Molina]. I did something most people couldn’t do.”

Mexico’s DeMarco, then the WBC lightweight champion, stopped Molina in the first round of their September 2012 fight in Oakland, California. Molina never went down in that bout and referee Jack Reiss was criticized for stopping it too early, despite that Molina was hurt.

Argentina’s Lucas Matthysse (37-4, 34 KOs, 1 NC) also knocked out Molina in the 11th round of their April 2014 fight in Carson, California.

Crawford (30-0, 21 KOs), meanwhile, stopped Lundy in the fifth round February 27 in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Before Crawford beat him, Lundy (26-6-1, 13 KOs) had only been stopped by Molina (29-7, 23 KOs), who beat him by 11th-round TKO in July 2010.

Crawford’s biggest win of 2016 came against then-unbeaten Ukrainian Viktor Postol (28-1, 12 KOs), whom Crawford thoroughly out-boxed in their 140-pound championship unification fight July 23 in Las Vegas.

The Boxing Writers Association of America named Crawford its “Fighter of the Year” for 2014.

In that year, Crawford went to Glasgow and beat Ricky Burns by unanimous decision to take the Scottish fighter’s WBO world lightweight title. In June of that year, Crawford knocked out previously undefeated Yuriorkis Gamboa in the ninth round of their title fight in Omaha.

Five months later, Crawford dominated Phoenix’s Ray Beltran in their 12-round lightweight title fight in Omaha.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.