Fighters React To Terence Crawford Beating Israil Madrimov: “Canelo KOs Him For Fun”

Fighters React To Terence Crawford Beating Israil Madrimov: “Canelo KOs Him For Fun”
Image credit: Matchroom
Kerr Ferguson

Terence Crawford became a four-weight world champion under the lights in LA, beating Israil Madrimov by unanimous decision with scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113.

The 36-year-old from Omaha showed flashes of his brilliance over the course of the twelve rounds but had clear respect for the powerful Madrimov, who had plenty of success of his own. With swing rounds throughout, fans, fighters and analysts will debate their scorecards for weeks to come.

Questions will now also be asked about Crawford’s ideal next opponent – Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez. The Mexican fights a further two divisions up at super-middleweight and the Madrimov fight was seen as a measuring stick as to where ‘Bud’s ceiling may be. Fighters and other names in the boxing world took to social media to asses his performance and future.

Terence Crawford

“Israil was a tough competitor. I knew he was gonna be tough, like I said, I knew all about him when I went to Uzbekistan and they was telling me so much about him. He’s real strong, durable, took a lot of good shots and he got me to round 12 … He fought a good fight.”

“I figured it out from the get-go but I was just being patient. I didn’t want to rush in with anything because that’s how I got caught a couple of times, tryna eat too soon.

“You can feel the difference [in weight classes]. Israil is a very strong opponent. For us to fight a guy of this calibre in this first fight says a lot about me and my team.”

Israil Madrimov

“You know what, I fought the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and I believe that I did enough because I was the champion. I was defending the belt and I was controlling the rythym. I felt very comfortable inside the ring. I believe I did very well and at least I deserve the rematch. His Excellency Turki Alalshikh can make it, let’s go.”

Shawn Porter

Ryan Garcia

Jamel Herring

Ishe Smith

Alycia Baumgardner

Claressa Shields

Eddie Hearn

“They knew this fight was on a knife edge, and you get absolutely zero respect from the judges because it’s Terence Crawford … It feels like a waste of time when you lose 116-112, it’s like they’re already filled out before. Everyone knows, they were coming up to me [saying] ‘oh you’ve ruined our plans.’ It was that kind of fight.”

Lou DiBella

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