Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn wants his fighter, Israil Madrimov, to focus on landing heavy shots on Terence Crawford early to slowly wear him down to score a knockout in the later rounds on Saturday night in their junior middleweight clash at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
(Photo credit: Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)
Can Madrimov Mimic GGG’s Pressure?
For Madrimov, 29, to follow Hearn’s strategy for this fight, he’d have to mimic the high-pressure style of Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin, who excelled at cutting off the ring against boxers that moved a lot.
It’s not enough for Madrimov to have similar power and resemble GGG in appearance; he’s got to be able to pressure Crawford into brawling with him because that’s the only chance he has of winning. He won’t win a boxing match against Crawford or even be competitive. Madrimov lacks the hand and foot speed to outbox Crawford.
Hearn isn’t under any illusions that WBA 154-lb champion Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) will win the early rounds against the highly skilled and experienced generational great Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs). He wants Madrimov to land hard enough punches to the body and head to wear the 36-year-old down.
Madrimov’s Winning Formula
- Power
- Pressure
- Precision
“He punches very hard and has tremendous straight shots to the body. He pivots very well,” promoter Eddie Hearn told DAZN Boxing about Israil Madrimov and what he does well that could lead to victory against Terence Crawford on Saturday night.
Madrimov’s last two performances against Magomed Kurbanov and Raphael Igbokwe weren’t good enough for him to be victorious against Crawford unless he improves his accuracy significantly and cuts off the ring.
“You have to put a little bit of a dent in him [Crawford] because if you let him into a rhythm and let him shine, there’s no doubt he wins on Saturday,” said Hearn.
“For those kinds of geniuses [Naoya Inoue, Vasily Lomachenko, and Crawford], it’s only when you move up through the weight classes that you come up against someone who can nearly match your ability but can also match you in size and power and hurt you.”
Hearn is right about highly talented fighters eventually reaching their limit of what they can do when they move up in weight. That’s likely why Inoue has chosen not to move up to featherweight; he’s got to know that he’ll start losing in that weight class.
Crawford may find out against Madrimov at 154 that he’s overreached what he can do, even with his huge talent. If this is too big of a jump for Crawford, he’ll be overcome by Madrimov’s power on Saturday.
“We have seen Terence Crawford buzzed a couple of times, and he’s in with the biggest puncher of his career [Madrimov],” said Hearn. “I think this is the toughest fight of his career. Madrimov is relatively inexperienced as a pro, but they’re up for this.”
Crawford’s Vulnerability
Crawford has been hurt by Yuriorkis Gamboa, Dierry Jean, and Egidijus Kavaliauskas. Those guys don’t have the power of Madrimov, but their speed was better, and they took advantage of Crawford’s overly aggressive moments.
Against Madrimov, Crawford may choose to box and not take chances, knowing that he’s facing a big puncher of a bigger size than him. More importantly, with the Canelo Alvarez fight for him next year, Crawford may not be willing to take risks by getting involved in heated exchanges with Madrimov.
“You just got to get into this fight and find a way to not get outclassed early and not get hurt early,” said Hearn. “If you get buzzed early by Terence Crawford, it’s a long way back.
“I’m not even saying winning the early rounds. Just be competitive. Try to wear him down and hit him and hurt him. You have to land and land heavy on this guy,” said Hearn.
Madrimov’s lack of speed will leave him vulnerable if Crawford unloads on him with a blistering flurry of shots that he sometimes does against slower fighters.
If Crawford fires off a 10-punch combination, the referee could step in and wave it off, even if Madrimov isn’t hurt. His punches are so slow that he could be outgunned if Crawford flurries on him.
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