Crawford Insists Jab Was Key To Victory Over Madrimov

Terence Crawford claims he was “beating up” WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov with his jab throughout their fight last Saturday night.

It didn’t look that way. Crawford (410, 31 KOs) was out-punched by Madrimov and was fortunate to win a 12-round unanimous decision in a fight that many boxing fans on social media had him losing.

If Crawford did deserve the win, it wasn’t conclusive enough to pass the eye test. The judges gave it to him anyway, scoring 116-112, 115-113, and 115-113.

Crawford’s bigger worry is that he failed to put on an entertaining performance, which he needed to improve his chances of getting a fight against Canelo Alvarez at 168. Instead of slugging with Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) to make it an exciting fight that would put pressure on Canelo to fight him, Crawford boxed and looked like a poor copy of Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The fight showed that Crawford couldn’t dominate at 154 as he’d done at 147. He’s aged in the last year. He’s not as fast as he was, and the punches bother him more at 154. He was lucky Madrimov didn’t hit him with more shots because he might not have survived the fight.

Dismissing Madrimov’s Power

“I was touching him up with a jab. I think my jab was beating him up all through the fight, but he landed a few right hands that was telling for the judges, but it was nothing I’ve never seen before,” said Terence Crawford during the post-fight press conference, talking about his win over Israil Madrimov.

Crawford finds it difficult to admit that Madrimov gave him his toughest fight and that he should have lost. None of Crawford’s past fights during his 16-year career were this difficult.

“We knew he had good movement and was strong and durable. If I was to say anything about what surprised me was his patience. He was real patient in there. I wouldn’t say he surprised me after ten fights because he had over 300 amateur fights. He knows how to fight.

“He knows how to capitalize on people’s mistakes.

“You got to understand that’s his fighter. He knows his guy lose, and does his team and so does he,” said Crawford, reacting to promoter Eddie Hearn saying that Madrimov deserved the win. “The right hand wasn’t bothering me. He landed it a couple of times at the end of the round where he was trying to steal the round.”

It’s not just Hearn who felt that Madrimov was robbed. A lot of fans feel the same way, and that means something.