Terence Crawford Struggles But Wins

While it wasn’t a sensational performance, Terrence Crawford did accomplish his goal Saturday night in Los Angeles, as he became a world champion in a fourth different weight division with a unanimous decision win over WBA 154 lb. title holder Israil Madrimov.

The bout capped the Riyadh Season card and saw the former undisputed junior welterweight and welterweight world champion struggle at times to put any sustained offence together against the elusive Uzbekistan opponent.

The 36 year old future hall of famer Crawford won by scores of 116 – 112 on one card and 115 – 113 on the other two, as he had to go the distance for a title win for the first time in 8 years and 12 fights.

Terence Crawford Decisions Israil Madrimov

Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov: The Challenger Was Tough

Madrimov, now 10-1-1, was making the first defence of a belt that he won in March of this year with a fifth-round KO of Magomed Kurbanov and was only fighting for the 12th time as a professional. However, he had had over 300 amateur wins in a decorated career. Madramov frustrated Crawford with his upper body and head movement and gave Crawford fits, while trying to hit him throughout the night.

Crawford, now 41-0, 31 KOS, stayed in the southpaw stance, but had trouble putting any combinations together for most of the fight. Meanwhile, Madrimov was effective with left jabs and straight right hands of his own making the fight very competitive.

Neither fighter landed significant quantities of punches. Both of them had combined to land fewer than 150 punches in the first 10 rounds of the belt, according to Compubox.

The Fight Came Down to the Final Rounds

Crawford won the 11th round by putting together some right-left combinations and landing on the body, however, in the final stanza Madrimov appeared to be the better fighter and actually, stunned Crawford briefly with a left hand about a minute ago in the fight. In the end, though, the fighter regarded as maybe the best pound-for-pound champion in boxing got his hand raised at the BMO Stadium near downtown L.A. The two judges that had Crawford winning by two points, both gave him the 11th and the 12th rounds to get the unanimous decision.

“Israil was a tough competitor. I knew he was going to be tough, like I said… He’s real strong. He’s durable. He took a lot of good shots. He got me in round 12,” Crawford said to DAZN after the fight.

“Like everybody knew coming into the fight, he had fast feet. He had good rhythm upstairs and he was strong. And, he was waiting to counter me like I was trying to counter him. He was very disciplined and wasn’t throwing wild shots.”

It was the first time Crawford had been in the ring since last July when he destroyed unified welterweight champion Errol Spence by TKO in their long-awaited showdown to become undisputed at 147 lb. That came on the heels of Crawford having previously been the undisputed junior welterweight champion, as well.

Is Canelo Coming Next?

The belief is Crawford will now look to fight future Hall of Famer Canelo Alvarez in a mega-fight that could happen next May. Alvarez is slated to fight unbeaten contender Edgar Berlaga for his unified super middleweight title next month. In the ring, after the fight, Crawford was respectful, but didn’t seem to be clamoring for an Alvarez fight,

“If the money’s right, you got a fight…. But, at the same time he’s got a fight he’s focused on. I’m going to go back to my family. i’m going to relax. I’m going to enjoy this and enjoy all the accomplishments I’ve made in the sport of boxing.

“It’s not important to me. It’s just another milestone to greatness I suppose. And, financially wise, too.”

For his part Madrimov did have a good showing and wants another crack at Crawford,

“I felt I fought the best pound for pound fighter in the world and I believe I did enough, because I’m the champion and I was defending the belt,” Madrimov said through an interpreter to DAZN. “I was controlling the rhythm and felt very comfortable inside the ring. I believe that I did very well. And, at least I deserve the rematch. And, his excellency Turki can make it, let’s go.” 

A rematch however is unlikely, as Crawford looks for a much bigger payday against a much bigger name. However, if he is to move up two more weight classes to challenge Canelo, he will have to be a lot better than he was Saturday night in Southern California.