Israil Madrimov fueled by challenge of battling the best in Terence Crawford

In the lead-up to Saturday’s defense of his junior middleweight title at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, Israil Madrimov has made no secret of his admiration for the accomplishments and style of his opponent, Terence Crawford.

But one of the few things that may rate as highly in Madrimov’s book as Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs), the 36-year-old three-division champion and pound-for-pound dynamo?

Beating him.

“My dream has always been to fight the best boxers and the pound-for-pound boxers,” Madrimov said. “When I received the news that I would be making my first world title defense against Terence Crawford, I was very happy. Let’s go! I am ready all of the time.”

Still, some wonder if Uzbekistan’s Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) truly is ready. Although 29 years old, and with a prolific amateur background for a foundation, Madrimov has made only 11 professional fights. His title-winning bout came in March in Saudi Arabia, in a convincing fifth-round stoppage of a somewhat-less-convincing belt holder in Magomed Kurbanov.

The distance between Kurbanov and Crawford feels like every mile between Riyadh and L.A.

“He doesn’t have any weaknesses,” Madrimov said of Crawford. “I haven’t seen any of those, but I will try to discover some. I am very excited to get this opportunity to make a statement, and I will, Inshallah. I’m not Errol Spence Jr. I am Israil Madrimov. This is my division.”

Crawford, for his part, will be testing the lengths to which he’s capable of climbing the ladder, after having already certified his dominance at 135, 140 and 147 pounds. Plenty of past champions so deep into their career learned their limits against an opponent who wasn’t fully appreciated until after making their bones against them.

“He’s moving up in weight,” Madrimov said. “I’m the world champion here, and I don’t think about him. I think about myself and I think about accomplishing my goals and winning this fight. It’s a huge honor and opportunity for me to show my skills, and I want to win this fight in style.”

Rather than distracting from his mission, Madrimov’s respect for Crawford actually fuels it. He’s motivated by the challenge of scaling a mountain whose summit has yet to be reached.

“I have always been a fan of Terence Crawford,” Madrimov said. “I like his style. He has great movement. It’s a good style. It is true that he is one of my favorite boxers. There is always a first guy, and I want to be the first guy to beat him and to break all of the records.”