Crawford vs Madrimov Fight Analysis
By Ralph Rimpell
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 01 Aug 2024
This upcoming Saturday August 3, 2024 will be exactly 1 year and 3 days since we last saw unified welterweight, three division champion, universally recognized “Pound for Pound” (P4P) best boxer in all of boxing, three division champion (135lbs, 140lbs, 147lbs), and future Boxing Hall of famer Terrance “Bud” Crawford (40-0, 31KOs) back in action.
It will be at the BMO stadium in Los Angeles where Crawford attemps to win a 4th world title in as many divisions when he challenges WBA junior middleweight champion (154lbs) Israil Madrimov (10-0-1, 7KOs). After all of Crawford’s accomplishments, many boxing journalist and writers refuse to recognize his success asserting his level of opposition has been weak and the name fighters on his resume were past their prime such as Shawn Porter, or the opposition had outgrown the weight class/not the same fighter due to serious injuries as in the case of Errol Spence Jr. whom he TKO’d in spectacular fashion last July 31, 2023 in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Center to stun the boxing world.
Crawford is no doubt on a mission to prove his critics wrong. Therefore, he has associated himself with a rising star in the world of boxing promotions named Turki Alalshikh who is backed by the Saudi Royal family who is sponsoring a historic boxing card due to each competitive bout on this card can easily be the Main Event at any of the Major Hotels in Las Vegas. Crawford also will no doubt be well compensated for this match and there will no doubt be more multimillion compensation for him in a possible Canelo fight should he prevail in spectacular fashion against Madrimov on Saturday night.
Madrimov for his part has only eleven fights on his boxing resume, but is already a World Champion in a high profile fight against boxing P4P #1 fighter Crawford. Madrimov has stated he will defeat Crawford and be the one to face Canelo. As of the writing of this article, a fight between Crawford and Canelo has not been confirmed as Canelo is scheduled to face undefeated New York contender Edgar Berlanga on September 14, 2024 at the T-Mobile Center.
That being the case what does Crawford have to do to defeat Madrimov and vice versa?
Crawford is a very skilled fighter. He is arguably the most skilled fighter in boxing. He has the ability to fight conventionally (right handed) or as a “southpaw” (left handed fighter), which many fighters have difficulty facing. He can counterpunch and box and has excellent footwork. He is deceptively strong. Big welterweights such as Horn, Kavaliauskas, and Spence realized that when they felt Crawford’s punches in past fights where he defeated them.
Crawford’s boxing IQ is also very high. Crawford himself has said on fight night he will see what Madrimov presents which indicates he plans to adapt and counter whatever Madrimov does. Crawford will not allow Madrimov to physically bully him. I (this writer) envision after the official weighin limit of 154lbs for both fighters 24hrs before the fight, Madrimov will likely rehydrate at least 15 lbs. and on fight night weigh 170lbs to 175lbs to Crawford’s rehydration of 5lbs to 160lbs.
The rehydration will likely hurt more than help Madrimov because Crawford, by his admission, always spars with bigger fighters (168lbs-190lbs) and holds his own if not beats them up, as per this Writer’s sources. Madrimov will expend so much energy trying to deal with Crawford’s skill which will allow Crawford to place his punches in the right places and to defeat a tired Madrimov. The key to Crawford defeating Madrimov will be counter punching, good defense, good foot work, and putting on display his own punching power to make Madrimov cautious of Crawford’s power which will totally throw Madrimov off his game plan.
What does Madrimov need to do to defeat Crawford?
Crawford is 36 years old and Madrimov is 29 years old. The reports on Madrimov is he can fight from either side (conventional or southpaw) like Crawford. His conditioning is superb. He reportedly had over 300 amateur fights even though he has had 11 professional fights and is now fighting on a “big stage” against Crawford. To defeat Crawford Madrimov has to impose his will on Crawford. He has to be first and not allow Crawford to land his combinations. He must minimize Crawford punches by leaning on him so his punches have no effect. He has to hope he can hurt Crawford as Gamboa did when they fought which may work for him or against him because when Crawford was stunned by Gamboa he still had his bearings and became more aggressive and stopped Gamboa in the later rounds. Being first, imposing his will, fighting conventional, and then switching to southpaw, and hope that his 29 year old legs will cause Crawford to grow old on Saturday night.
This writer envisions the first 4 rounds to be competitive between Crawford and Madrimov. By the 5th round Crawford will begin to break Madrimov down and score a TKO between the 8th and 9th round.
Philboxing Picks for the Undercard
On the undercard there are some spectacular fights:
Cuban fighter Andy Cruz (3-0, 1KO) vs Antonio Moran (30-6-1, 21KOs) in a lightweight bout. Philboxing picks Cruz to defeat Moran by decision.
Former Heavyweight Champion Andy Ruiz, Jr. (35-2, 22KOs) who shocked the world when he knocked out Anthony Joshua in 2019 to win the world Heavyweight title as a replacement for Jarrell Miller (26-1-1, 22KOs) who was suspended due to a failed drug test, face each other on this card. Miller has all the ability in the world as does Ruiz. The winner of this fight is who trained harder because they want it more. Miller has reportedly lost 40lbs in preparation for this fight. Many favor Ruiz to win. Philboxing picks Miller to score and upset by split Decision victory.
Jared Anderson (17-0, 15KOs) was supposed to fight Deontay Wilder if he won his last bout against Zhilei Zhang in Saudi Arabia but Wilder lost by knockout last June 2024. Anderson is fighting Martin Bakole (20-1, 15KOs). Anderson appears to be the heir apparent to Usyk, but from what this Writer has seen of Bakole on video, Anderson has to get past Bakole before plans can continue with his future coronation as the future King of the Heavyweights. The winner of this fight is who can take who’s punches better, better defense, and is in shape to go the scheduled rounds for the fight. Folks I don’t think this fight is going the distance. Philboxing says this is a “pick em fight”. It can go either way with either fighter winning.
Isaac Cruz (26-2-1, 18KOs) vs Jose Valenzuela (13-2, 8KOs) is an excellent match up! Both fighters were exceptional lightweight
(135lbs) fighters. They now fight at Jr. Welterweight (140lbs) clearly because Cruz now has a title in that division. Valenzuela can box and punch. Cruz is known as “pitbull”, no doubt because of how he attacks his opponents. Cruz went the distance with Tank who normally knocks out his opponents and gave Tank a good fight which shows how tough Cruz is. Valenzuela is from undefeated supermiddleweight former world champion David Benavidez camp and is trained by Jose Benavidez Sr. Philboxing picks Valenzuela by unanimous decision over Cruz.
David Morrell (10-0, 9KOs) vs Radivoje Kalajdzic (29-2, 21KO) is for the WBA “Regular” light heavyweight title. Morrel unable to secure a world title shot with Canelo at 168lbs has headed north to 175lbs where World champions Bivol and Beterbiev are and will unify their titles in October 2024. Benavidez is now campaigning at 175lbs. Morrell has been champion since at 168lbs (secondary world title) since his 5th professional fight. After 10 fights, he appears to be geeting better with each fight under the tutelage of Trainer Ronnie Shields. Kalajdzic is on a 5 fight winning streak since losing to Beterbiev. Philboxing picks Morrel to TKO Kalajdzic in 6 rounds.
Boxing Notes
Shakur Stevenson has been boxing professionally for 7 years since winning a silver medal at the Olympic Games. In the 7 years he has been fighting professionally, he has won 3 world titles in three weight divisions (126lbs, 130lbs. 135lbs). Most fighters don’t win 1 world title. Stevenson is already going to the Boxing Hall of Fame. He is the current WBC lightweight champion and has an undefeated record of 22-0, 10KOs. Stevenson is a master boxer. Stevenson is being criticized for not knocking out or stopping his last 2 opponents. This reminds this Writer of the criticism against Hall of famer and 4 division champion Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker. Whitaker was a master boxer with excellent defense, but was not the hardest puncher and went on to have an excellent career. This Writer is NOT saying Shakur is the next coming of Pernell Whitaker, but both fighters relied more on outboxing their opponent than getting the knockout. Shakur should not let the criticism distract him which could cause a loss, but rather keep his chin tucked in and do what he does best. Box!!! In the words of the deceased famed excellent trainer George Benton, “Win this one, look good next time”, if Shakur is again in a situation where his opponent is only in a fight to survive and the fight goes the distance.
***Ralph Rimpell is a writer based out of New York and is a Boxing Correspondent for Philboxing.com. Ralph holds an undergraduate degree from City University of New York. He has been a Boxing Writer for over ten years having written for several top boxing websites on the World Wide Web. Before becoming a writer, Ralph's passion was for professional wrestling until he realized professional wrestling was entertainment and not a real sport. It was at that time the 1984 US Olympic team made up of future stars such as Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, etc. entered the professional ranks and signed with promotional outfit Main Events.It was also at that time a young exciting Heavyweight originally hailing from Brooklyn named Mike Tyson also turned professional and became the face of boxing. Young boxing fan Ralph just couldn't get enough of boxing as a large part of it was being broadcast on "free TV". As time went on, Ralph felt boxing writers were not being forthcoming with their boxing coverage, opinion pieces, interviews, etc. So Ralph decided to write an article and submitted it to a Boxing website thinking it would be deleted and ignored by the Editor. To Ralph's surprise his article was posted on their website and the readers embraced it. The rest is history.
"I thank God for the Internet because it has created opportunities for writers like myself who likely would not have been given an opportunity to write for print publications. I hope someday soon to expand my role in Boxing on different levels." -- Ralph Rimpell
Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ralph Rimpell.
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