His Excellency Turki Alalshikh released the Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov ‘Everything or Nothing’ promo video ahead of the August 3rd fight in 22 days from now on ESPN+ PPV at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
The promo has a theatrical, dramatic feel, showing how Crawford and Madrimov got into boxing at a young age.
Turki’s Confidence & Cryptic Surprises
Alalshikh is labeling it as “one of the toughest” fights in Crawford’s career, and it’s certainly coming late in the game—he turns 37 in September. Turki says he’s “Confident Crawford will deliver.” What if he doesn’t?
Alalshikh says he’s got “surprises in store for Crawford.” Still, he doesn’t say the same about Madrimov. If he assumes Terence has the victory in the bag already, and it’s just a forgone conclusion on August 3rd, it would be absurd to talk about “surprises” for him. Unfortunately, there’s an excellent chance that Crawford will lose this fight against Madrimov.
“One of the toughest challenges in Crawford’s career,” said Turki on X about Crawford taking on Madrimov. “I’m confident Crawford will deliver a historic performance and surprise the world. We have some major surprises in store for Crawford that will be revealed soon.”
The surprise is likely the Canelo Alvarez fight that has been floated for Crawford. Fans have mixed feelings about Crawford leapfrogging over contenders at 168 to be given a title shot against Canelo without competing in the division first.
The Ngannou Precedent: Does Winning Matter?
If Crawford gets beaten by Madrimov, does he still get the “surprises” anyway from Turki? That would make it look even worse. Crawford would basically lose his way into the title shot against Canelo rather than win his way.
It looks bad already that Crawford is getting an immediate title shot against Madrimov at 154 without fighting in the weight class first, but fans are overlooking it because it’s only one weight class. But for Crawford to go up two weight classes from 154 to 168 to challenge Canelo would be off-putting.
Francis Ngannou was still used as Anthony Joshua’s opponent despite losing to Tyson Fury, and he made a bundle. If it doesn’t matter if Crawford loses on August 3rd, that takes some of the interest out of the fight.
What will happen to Madrimov if he destroys Crawford on August 3rd? That’s what I want to know. There’s no upside for Madrimov with that golden payday against Canelo?
Read the full article here