Israil Madrimov revealed that he and his team have seen areas in Terence Crawford’s game that they will be looking to exploit on August 3rd at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
WBA junior middleweight champion Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) feels he’s got more than enough experience to make up for his lack of pro fights to defeat the 36-year-old Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs).
Madrimov says he’s had “over 300 amateur fights,” 200 of them from international competitions. Experience-wise, Madrimov might be more experienced than Crawford and has faced better opposition.
Madrimov notes that Crawford has fought a lot of fighters who were on the downside of their careers when he competed against them. Although Madrimov doesn’t mention who these fighters were, these guys would seem to be the obvious choice of faded fighters Crawford exploited:
– Errol Spence
– Kell Brook
– Amir Khan
– David Avanesyan
– Shawn Porter
– John Molina Jr
– Ricky Burns
– Yuriorkis Gamboa
– Julius Indongo
– Viktor Postol
– Jose Benavidez Jr.
– Breidis Prescott
Those guys comprise 25% of Crawford’s resume and are the best fighters he’s fought during his career. The other fighters Crawford beat were lesser guys.
“Experience-wise, yes, I have ten professional fights, but it’s a high quality. All ten were WBA fights. All ten were twelve-rounders against stiff opposition,” said Israil Madrimov to Ringside Intel, talking about how his experience heading into his fight against the old warrior Terence Crawford on August 3 in Los Angeles.
“I have more than 200 International amateur fights. So overall, over 300 amateur fights,” Madrimov continued. “I have experience fighting everyone around the world. The ring will show everything. On August 3rd, you will see everything.
The real question is whether Crawford can handle the GGG-esque power that Madrimov possesses at his age, coming off a one-year layoff and never having fought in the 154-lb division.
This is a tough fight for any fighter natural to the 154-lb division to take, but for someone who has been older and inactive for much of the last four years and has been facing faded fighters, it could be a step too far for Crawford.
“We have some things we’ve been watching. We’re not going to talk about it right now,” said Madrimov. “With a lot of fighters, they’re losing before they even step in the ring [with Crawford]. They’re already kind of on the downside [of their careers]. With me, I’m mentally strong.”
Madrimov’s comment about fighters being on the downside of their careers is dead-on correct. Crawford was matched well during his many years by Top Rank, which is the best in the business in picking opponents for their fighters to create glittering plastic records, but often with no real substance. It’s superficially designed for marketing to sell a fighter to the public just like you would a product.
Very rarely are these fighters anywhere near as good as their artificial records would indicate, and they often fall apart as soon as they’re thrown in the deep end. Former Top Rank fighter Edgar Berlanga will soon be a big example once Canelo Alvarez picks him out. Crawford was protected similarly, and he’s created a record that doesn’t represent reality.
“I know what I’m capable of,” said Madrimov. “I know this fight is important for me, my family, for my legacy, and the whole country. I’ve got a whole country [Uzbekistan] on my back supporting me. I’m definitely coming out there to do everything within my power to get the victory. My only thoughts are positive thoughts. I know what I’m capable of.
“Everyone is talking about this fight, and everyone is looking forward to the August 3rd fight,” said Madrimov about his country, looking forward to seeing him face Crawford.
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