Terence Crawford went the 12-round distance for the first time in eight years on his debut in another new weight division but emerged stronger for it to become a four-division world champion after a competitive chess match against Israil Madrimov, seizing the WBA light-middleweight world championship and WBO interim title following their slow-burning headliner from LA’s BMO Stadium.
Madrimov makes Crawford sweat in patient affair
- Terence Crawford praises Israil Madrimov’s discipline and durability after competitive battle, cools on Canelo Álvarez megafight at super-middleweight after going distance on 154lb debut: “If the money’s right, we gotta fight. It’s just another milestone to greatness, financially too.”
- Madrimov via a translator, insists he believed he did enough to retain his title: “I was controlling the rhythm, felt comfortable and did really well. I held myself back a lot and know I can do even more next time, let’s make it.”
- Madrimov’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, was unhappy with the scorecards: “It’s a waste of time, not a 116-112 fight. Crawford had a good flurry late but it was a super close fight and you’ve got to take the belt off the champion – Israil deserved more respect – I love Terence, he’s brilliant but when you’re hearing that scorecard, you just think why bother?”
116-112, 115-113, 115-113: Terence Crawford bt. Israil Madrimov via UD12, improves to 41-0 and wins WBA, WBO interim light-middleweight world titles
THE crowd were growing restless early on and who could blame them, having to sit through an hour of fluff before a main event with plenty of Riyadh Season-powered promotion during fight week as well as contrasting undercard upsets preceding it.
Martin Bakole halted the Jared Anderson hype train with an emphatic fifth-round stoppage win after David Morrell underwhelmed on his light-heavyweight debut, before Jose Valenzuela won WBA world light-welterweight gold against Isaac Cruz.
Madrimov feinted plenty and displayed steely patience in doing so, waiting for openings to show themselves with Crawford’s counters a concern – as was his sneaky short left hooks – though the Uzbek’s twitchy tendencies gave him a chance to land the right hand and he did his cleanest work with that punch.
Now-retired former two-time welterweight champion and Crawford foe-turned-friend Shawn Porter was surprised Crawford hadn’t switched from southpaw to orthodox after four rounds, Madrimov’s jittery upper body movement and footwork helped him command centre ring while power from both made them tentative.
Most of these rounds were difficult to score and punch output razor-thin, though two of the three ringside judges had Crawford up 3-0 through nine minutes.
Body work and patient short shots worked well for Crawford in the sixth, round seven saw more of the same in the final half-minute while Madrimov’s trainer Joel Diaz urged him to throw more combination punching as they entered the eighth.
Madrimov got more creative with his entries to pierce through a high defensive guard, Crawford consciously firing back soon afterwards to avoid being outworked as the pair traded more heat up close after Bud was being tagged more in said stanza.
The defending champion was rewarded for increased aggression in the ninth, landing single overhands with both hands before dipping his head out of range to further disrupt Crawford’s rhythm on a night where his best work came in flashes.
Crawford connected on the better work in round ten, well-timed left uppercut hurting Madrimov in the final half-minute before the younger man displayed great ringcraft to stifle the pound-for-pound star and clinch wherever possible until the bell.
Into the final round they went, Crawford crunching Madrimov with multiple uppercuts and upping the ante as he looked to finish this encounter strong. He needed that final round too, otherwise it would’ve finished as a majority draw.
There’s a reason why weight divisions exist and while Crawford was making his first appearance in a year here against a quality opponent, this showing exemplified why a Canelo showdown isn’t in the best interests of either. Matchups against the other light-middleweight champions, or Jaron Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr, make more sense.
Full card results
Now-former undisputed welterweight king Terence Crawford adds light-middleweight world honours to his ever-growing collection after a hard-fought headliner against previously-unbeaten champion Israil Madrimov went to the wire.
In the night’s co-main event, Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela was the busier and more effective from the off en route to producing a split decision upset win (113-115, 116-112 x 2) over Isaac Cruz, winning the WBA world light-welterweight title.
Elsewhere, Martin Bakole became the first to inflict defeat upon highly-regarded American heavyweight Jared Anderson with a stunning fifth-round knockout win as his promoter, BOXXER chief Ben Shalom, doubled down ringside on their shared desire for the DR Congo international to box the Usyk-Fury 2 winner next.
Former unified world heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz and Jarrell Miller boxed to a controversial 10-round majority draw (116-112, 114-114 x 2) though Ruiz looked worn out and had to fight through adversity in the second-half on his first appearance for 23 months. A nasty hand injury means he’ll be out a while again.
David Morrell got hit too often for comfort but emerged stronger for the experience after mirroring David Benavidez’s light-heavyweight debut with a successful 12-round decision win over one-time world title challenger Radivoje Kalajdzic to win the WBA (Regular) title at 175lbs before again calling for a showdown against The Monster.
Highly-rated amateur lightweight star Andy Cruz improved to 4-0 as a pro after his fourth 10-round contest in little over twelve months, scoring a seventh-round stoppage win over seasoned Mexican contender Antonio Moran in his toughest assignment yet to successfully defend his IBF International title a third time.
Crawford’s teammate and super-middleweight hopeful Steven Nelson stayed perfect at 20-0 after a fifth-round knockout win over Marcos Vazquez Rodriguez while Saudi-born welterweight Ziyad Almaayouf could only muster a majority draw on his Stateside debut against Michal Bulik on the non-televised portion of this card.
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes via DAZN broadcast
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