Crawford is now a four-division champion after taking the WBA 154-pound crown on Saturday night
If anyone expected Israil Madrimov to be a soft touch to get Terence Crawford acclimated to the junior middleweight division, they walked away from Saturday’s fight with their eyes opened to Madrimov’s skills. ‘Bud’ claimed the WBA junior middleweight title inside BMO Stadium in Los Angeles with a close, but unanimous decision over his opponent from Uzbekistan.
It was clear from the early rounds that Madrimov was going to present an intriguing challenge to Crawford, arguably the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighter. Madrimov showcased fast hands and good footwork, feinting and moving to keep Crawford from getting comfortable and letting his hands go in the way he has against so many other great fighters.
Crawford worked a hard jab, maintaining a southpaw stance throughout the fight and not doing his usual stance switching, and used that jab to open up straight lefts and hard uppercuts. But Madrimov continued to make things tough, especially when he realized that Crawford was open to straight right hands.
The momentum shifted back and forth several times, with one fighter seeming to establish a flow for a few rounds before the other man would suddenly impose his own gameplan.
Ultimately, Crawford was just a little bit better than his younger opponent and took the fight on scorecards of 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113, meaning if Crawford hadn’t taken the 12th round, the fight would have ended as a majority draw.
Crawford landed 95 of 433 punches to 84 of 273 for Madrimov, according to CompuBox, showcasing how close the bout was overall. Madrimov was also able to snap an 11-fight knockout streak for Crawford.
“Israil was a tough competitor,” Crawford said after the fight. “I knew he was going to be tough like I said. He’s real strong, he’s durable, he took a lot of good shots. Like everybody knew coming into the fight, he had fast feet and good rhythm upstairs and was strong. He was waiting to counter me just like I was waiting to counter him. He fought a good fight.”
Madrimov said he felt he had done enough to win and asked for a rematch. His promoter, Eddie Hearn, was more upset than Madrimov after the fight, claiming the scoring felt like the scorecards were “filled out in advance.”
Crawford had been angling to continue moving up in weight, claiming he wanted a shot at Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, the superstar who is unified super middleweight champion.
After the fight, Crawford slowed down on the talk, suggesting he was still interested but not pushing hard for the bout, which Turki Alalshikh said he’d already sent an offer to Alvarez for.
“You know what I say, if the money’s right, we’ve got to fight,” Crawford said. “At the same time, he has a fight he’s focused on. … [Getting the fight is] not so important to me. It’s just another milestone to greatness, I suppose. And financially-wise.”
CBS Sports was with you throughout the entire way on Saturday with live results and highlights below.