The 29 year-old, defending his WBO, WBC and Ring Magazine titles, came up against fellow-unbeaten Julius Indongo in a bid to add the WBA and IBF versions to his haul.
A drab opener was followed by a livelier second round, with Indongo succumbing to a cuffed right hand to hit the canvas for the first time.
In the third, and sensing blood, Crawford laid his opponent out with a crunching body shot to capture the undisputed crown and clean up at the 140 pound limit.
The moment Bud Crawford became the undisputed junior welterweight champ.
Here's how he did it: https://t.co/lGVPUtdL51 pic.twitter.com/7AT5KhzNwm
— ESPN (@espn) August 20, 2017
Picture: Mikey Williams
With the win, Crawford moves alongside Andre Ward and Gennady Golovkin as the all-dominant forces in their respective divsions and could now be ready to move up and mix it with the welterweight big boys.
Fights with Jeff Horn, Keith Thurman and Errol Spence are possible for Crawford, who looked every inch the world class fighter he is at the Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Crawford can now boast a standout 32-0 C.V following the victory as Indongo loses for the first time and drops to 22-1.
In the co-feature, light heavyweight puncher Oleksandr Gvozdyk pushed to 14-0 with a sixth round stoppage of Craig Baker.
The Ukrainian is highly-touted for a world title shot in 2018 and came through his latest test with flying colors.
