Terence Crawford kept his undefeated record in tact and added a belt in a fourth weight-class to his substantial collection by beating Israil Madrimov at the BMO Stadium, Los Angeles.
The back-and-forth fight went the distance – something the 36-year-old from Omaha hadn’t done in his 11 previous outings – and it was scored unanimously for the twice undisputed champion. Whilst there was some debate as to the scorecards, very few in the sport are claiming the win was undeserved.
The fight was watched on by some of boxing’s biggest names from then and now, including Mike Tyson, Roberto Duran, Shakur Stevenson and Devin Haney.
Although Haney left mid-action in the main event, he told FightHype on his way out that the American was ‘winning clearly’ up until that point.
“Come on now, Crawford. Yeah [he’s winning clearly.] [Madrimov] is putting up a good fight, styles make fights though. It’s boxing. The weight is showing, but Crawford is Crawford.”
Asked how Crawford would fare against Canelo now that we’ve seen him at this new weight and with a further two divisions to jump, Haney didn’t hesitate when he backed ‘Bud’ to do it.
“Crawford!”
Fans may never see the fight between the two elite operators. It became a real option when Riyadh Season’s Turki Alalshikh announced he had sent an offer the Mexican’s way, but he has today revealed it is now off the table without providing reason why.
As ‘Bud’ rests up and enjoys his latest achievement, Canelo returns to the ring on September 14 to face undefeated Edgar Berlanga.
