140-lb champion Teofimo Lopez wasn’t impressed with Terence Crawford’s performance in his close, controversial win over WBA light middleweight champion Israil Madrimov last Saturday night.
(Credit: Melina Pizano/Matchroom)
Crawford Looked Faded
Teofimo says the 36-year-old Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) showed his age, looked slower, and was hit a lot by Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs). Crawford won a narrow 12-round unanimous decision at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. Crawford was bailed out by the judges, who gave him a win by the scores 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113.
The fight showed that Crawford is getting long in the tooth and has little time left before retirement. If he continues fighting for much longer, he will start taking losses because he can’t depend on the judges to bail him out every time with controversial decisions.
They gave Crawford a break this time against the foreign fighter from Uzbekistan, but he can’t count on that happening for two or three more years if he intends to fight the top fighters.
Age: An Accelerating Factor
Crawford’s year break after his win over Errol Spence last year in July 2023 aged him badly, which isn’t surprising. Sometimes when people reach 35, their age often accelates. That appears to be the case with Crawford.
He looked like he had aged seven years since the Spence fight and resembled a 40+ year-old against Madrimov. Crawford could only do jab, which wasn’t even effective. I watched the fight twice, and I scored it for Madrimov 9-3.
The Nebraska native Crawford was the picture of a faded fighter last night, and lucky, the judges were willing to give him a win for old-time’s sake.
In the post-fight interview, Crawford immediately called out Canelo, saying, “If the money’s right, we got a fight. I’m going to relax and enjoy this win.”
It’s unclear how much money Crawford is expecting to get for a fight against Canelo because he’s not going to get more fighting than anyone else. Moreover, with the way Crawford looked, he’ll likely lose if he fights a killer like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
“That age is catching up to Crawford. Let’s see what he does next. I don’t think he should fight Canelo,” said Teofimo Lopez to the media after watching Terence Crawford’s performance against Israil Madrimov last Saturday night.
Lopez is right. Age is catching up to Crawford, and if he doesn’t get the Canelo fight, he should focus on getting the best-paying fight while he can because he won’t stay unbeaten for much longer if he faces quality opposition.
“I believe that I did enough because I was the champion, ” said Madrimov. “I was defending the belt, and I was controlling the rhythm.”
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