Terence Crawford became a four-weight world champion at the first point of asking this month.
The 36-year-old was champion in three divisions, undisputed in two, when he stepped through the ropes to face Israil Madrimov at super-welterweight, showing flashes of his brilliance in a tough fight.
Crawford took it via unanimous decision with scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113, winning the WBA World Title but ending a streak of 11 stoppage wins that started back in 2016 against John Molina Jr at super-lightweight. He would knock out the likes of Amir Khan, Kell Brook, Jeff Horn and, most recently, welterweight rival Errol Spence Jr.
Despite his pound-for-pound skillset, fans and pundits are wondering where his ceiling is in terms of weight classes. Having started out down at lightweight, he did look good at 154lbs but Madrimov presented perhaps his hardest night at the office.
Speaking at the post-fight press conference, the former champion gave his opinion on Crawford’s arsenal.
“There’s no doubt on his power, there’s no doubt on his skills. I knew that and that’s why this fight was so close.”
Elaborating on the question in an interview with Mill City Boxing, Madrimov said ‘Bud’s power was ‘regular.’
“It’s regular power because he’s a [smaller] weight going up. It’s normal, you know, his punch.”
Crawford will likely look to stick around at 154 now that the fight with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez at 168 is off the table. He may look to welcome Jaron Ennis to the division, a fight Riyadh Season’s Turki Alalshikh has expressed an interest in.
