Terence Crawford believes he can quickly capture all the belts at 154 to become the undisputed champion in a third weight class. The first part of Crawford’s belt-capturing vision is against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd in Los Angeles.
Madrimov: The Biggest Hurdle
Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) feels that Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) is the toughest, which is an accurate view, given how weak the three champions are in the 154-lb weight class. The other two champions are Sebastian Fundora [WBC & WBO] and Bakhram Murtazaliev [IBF].
Madrimov is not going to be easy, though, because he’s a big puncher, and Crawford will need to change the brawling style that he used to defeat Errol Spence last July to avoid getting his head knocked off by the hard shots.
The Road to Undisputed
If Crawford does stick around to collect all the belts at 154, it’ll get interesting if he moves up to 160 and tries to do the same against the champions Janibek Alimkhanuly, Erislandy Lara, and Jermall Charlo.
By the time Crawford moves up to 160, Jermall will probably have finally been stripped by then of his WBC title for failing to defend it for four years.
Crawford on Madrimov Fight and His Vision
“For him telling me he wanted me to be his first fight in America was an honor. I was like, ‘Let’s do it. Why not do it in Omaha?’ LA is [a good option],” said Terence Crawford to Matchroom Boxing about His Excellency Turki Alalshikh wanting him to headline his first card in the U.S against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd.
What Crawford didn’t say is His Excellency wanted him to fight David Benavidez at 160, but the match couldn’t get made. Benavidez said that he told Alalshikh that he’s with PBC and he can’t get down to 160.
Crawford may have dodged a bullet with that one because he’s too small, and not built to take the kind of pounding that Benavidez would deliver.
“We’re months away from fight time. Come fight time, energy is going to be up, and we’re going to be on a whole other level. We’re both going to come out ready and do what we do to get the job done,” said Crawford about what he saw during his face-off with Madrimov.
“Everywhere I go in the world, it’s all love. People tell me they rate me as one of the best fighters in the world today. A lot of people hate, so that makes it seem like there’s not love here. August 3rd is going to be an exciting night of boxing.
“This is a tremendous card. As Eddie [Hearn] said, I can’t remember there being a card as stacked as the August 3rd card is.
“There’s potentially two belts on the line. If Fundora don’t fight me after this, I’m potentially the WBA and WBO champion. If he do fight me, that’s three belts on the line [WBA, WBC, and WBO]. There’s only one more [IBF] to capture.”
Crawford shouldn’t make the mistake of looking ahead of his fight with Madrimov because this might be a bridge too far for him due to the power that he’s going to be dealing with.
Madrimov won’t be weight drained, ring rusty, or coming off of a car crash for the Crawford fight like the Nebraska native’s last opponent.
“So potentially two to three fights, that’s undisputed,” said Crawford about him possibly capturing all four belts rapidly if he beats Madrimov [WBA], Sebastian Fundora [WBC/WBO] and IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev.
Fundora may end up getting stripped of his WBO title if he doesn’t fight Crawford, but he’s likely to fight whoever makes him the most amount of money. The title is less important.