Analyst Chris Mannix views Israil Madrimov as being the toughest fight of Terence Crawford’s 16-year career when they meet on August 3rd. Although there is not much of a size difference between Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) and the 5’8 1/2″ Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs), the power and skills that the Uzbek brings are formidable.
Crawford’s Limited Opposition and Inactivity
We don’t know how Crawford will handle getting hit hard by Madrimov, as he is coming off another long layoff and not a spring chicken at 36.
Crawford has only eight fights under his belt at 147, most of which were against older fighters on the downside of their careers, like Errol Spence, David Avanesyan, Shawn Porter, Kell Brook, and Amir Khan.
Those are arguably the toughest fights of Crawford’s long career because he only had a few fights at 140 against limited opposition, like Thomas Dulorme, Julius Indongo, and Viktor Postol.
The boxing public views the Crawford-Madrimov fight as a complete mismatch, and they view it as another cherry-pick for Crawford, like many of his past fights. Granted, Crawford has fought a lot of marginal fighters during his career that would all be swept by Madrimov and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, but he’s done what he was supposed to for him to get to this point.
Obviously, Crawford’s past opposition would be beaten by Madrimov and Boots. That makes it hard to gauge how good Crawford is because he’s not fought an elite-level fighter.
Errol Spence was not elite after 16 months of inactivity, two car crashes, and complete weight loss from dropping from 190+ lbs for his fight against Crawford last year in July.
“Are we dismissing the possibility that Madrimov could sleep him?” said commentator Chris Mannix to DAZN Boxing about Terence Crawford potentially losing to Israil Madrimov on August 3rd.
If Madrimov hits Crawford cleanly with the shot he knocked out Magomed Kurbanov with, he’ll produce the same results. Crawford is a good fighter, but his chin is just as weak as anyone Madrimov knocked out. What makes Crawford good is his skills, and his ability to avoid getting hit. But as far as his chin goes, he’s not Superman.
“Madrimov can punch; he can really crack. When I saw them face-to-face in New York a few weeks back, there wasn’t much of a size difference,” said Mannix. “In fact, Crawford was a little bit bigger at that moment. I don’t think size is going to be that much of a factor there, but this is an in his prime, incredibly skilled, really strong junior middleweight.”
Crawford’s problems in this fight on August 3rd aren’t size. It’s Madrimov’s power and style. He’s not going to be weight-drained, old, and suffering from inactivity like Crawford’s last opponent, Spence, and not over the hill like Shawn Porter.
“When you make the jump, it’s not a huge amount of weight. But in your first fight in a new weight class, you’re a little bit different. It takes a minute to adjust to that, and he’s [Crawford] going to be adjusting to a new weight class against a guy [Madrimov], who might be the best in that weight class,” said Mannix.
The new weight class, talent of Madrimov, age, and inactivity for Crawford could have an accumulative effect on him. Crawford doesn’t fight very often anymore because he spends time negotiating and looking for the ideal matchup. That inactivity could be a problem more than anything. For the last four years, Crawford has fought just once a year.
“I think this Madrimov fight is going to be the toughest fight of his career. I’m thinking back to all the tough fights he’s been in; I think this is going to be his toughest one when I look back at all of them,” said Mannix.
