Terence Crawford created yet more history last weekend when he became a four-weight world champion.
The American pound-for-pound star was making his debut at super-welterweight against the WBA champion Israil Madrimov. In what was a cagey back and forth affair where neither man allowed the other a prolonged stint of success, Crawford took a unanimous decision with scores of 116-112, 115-113, 115-113.
Although most pundits had ‘Bud’ winning the fight, Madrimov’s promoter Eddie Hearn thought the official scorecards showed a lack of respect towards his man.
Speaking on his podcast ‘The Fight’, Hall of Fame trainer turned pundit Teddy Atlas, agreed with the judges and had scored the fight as 116-112 to Crawford.
“Here is my scorecard, 116-112, I know people will look to murder me over it and I don’t really care but again full disclosure, a lot of close rounds, I hade it 116-112, it could have been 115-113. I thought Crawford won the fight and won the fight clear, did what he had to do down the stretch, did what he had to do when he realised the level of this guy, what they guy brought and how good the guy really was. Madrimov wasn’t reckless, he wasn’t a bull in a china shop because Crawford gets rid of bulls in china shops, he gets rid of them, but this guy was smart, confident, controlled, neither man could make a mistake.
They both fought a smart fight, I thought Crawford took a lot rounds just with the jab. There wasn’t much punching going on from either guy, especially Madrimov, but if he threw more he might have got caught more, so he knew what he was doing.”
Crawford had been hoping to face super-middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez next, but the man expected to bankroll the match-up, Turki Alalshikh, has declared he is no longer interested in making it happen, claiming Canelo has priced himself out. Where the American goes next is unclear, but he’s expected instead to stick around at 154 and attempt to collect more belts.
