Terence Crawford makes his debut at super-welterweight this weekend in Los Angeles, facing WBA Champion Israil Madrimov in an attempt to win a belt in a fourth division.
‘Bud’ started out at lightweight and worked his way up to become a three-weight, twice-undisputed champion. At 36-years-old, he isn’t done adding to that legacy.
The man who stands in his way has ten wins, no losses and one draw. Madrimov won Gold Medals at the Asian Championships two years running in 2017 and 2018 before turning over to the paid ranks in November of that year. He won his first five bouts by stoppage and, most recently, beat Magomed Kurbanov for the vacant WBA strap.
He has the trademark eastern European toughness and packs a heavy punch from a style that looks unorthodox but is by no means ineffective. Like Crawford, he’s a comfortable switch-hitter.
The career-long 154 pounder is confident of the win come Saturday, one that he told Little Giant Boxing will come over his ‘favourite fighter.’
“Crawford. He moves left, right, he’s smart. My favourite boxer and I think he’s pound-for-pound number one.”
Much of the talk in the build-up has been Crawford’s pursuit of a fight at 168 against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez – something that’s still on the table if he wins.
Madrimov warned the pound-for-pound star not to forget about him because he may just take up that slot.
“Nothing. We are waiting for the August 3 fight. Who’s champ? And then maybe Canelo-Madrimov. We have a fight August 3. Don’t forget.”
