Promoter Eddie Hearn said His Excellency Turki Alalshikh contacted him about adding former WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov to the undercard of the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk II rematch on December 21st at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) lost his WBA 154-lb title to Terence Crawford by a narrow 12-round unanimous decision on August 3rd at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. Crawford won by the scores 115-113, 116-112, and 115-113.
High-profile Return for Madrimov?
“His Excellency has reached out to us and Madrimov and said, ‘I would like you on the December 21st card. So hopefully that can happen, and chasing the big fights at 154,’” Eddie Hearn said to Fight Hub TV about His Excellency Turki Alalshikh wanting Israil Madrimov to fight on the undercard of the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk II rematch on December 21st in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The Matchroom-promoted Madrimov, 29, wants a rematch against the 36-year-old Crawford so that he can avenge his loss and recapture his WBA 154-lb title. That’s not going to happen because Crawford only wants Canelo, and he’s not going to want to take a risky rematch against a motivated, revenge-seeking Madrimov.
You can’t rule out Turki changing Crawford’s mind by offering him a lot of money to fight Madrimov again, but it would have to be considerable to get him to face him a second time. Madrimov made Crawford look old in that fight, and he would know which corrections to make the second time around to defeat the Nebraska native.
The fight was won by Crawford, 36, in the championship rounds when he applied pressure on the defensive-minded Madrimov, and showed the judges that he wanted it more.
He would have been victorious if Madrimov had fought harder from rounds 9 through 12. With the right coaching for a rematch, Madrimov beat Crawford because he showed that he had the physical tools and boxing skills to beat him. The missing ingredient was aggression and a willingness to go on the attack.
In an interview this week, Madrimov expressed the desire to fight for a world title against one of the champions. If he’s going to fight on December 21st, he may not have a chance to fight for a belt.
If Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis fails to get a unification fight, moving up to 154 and taking on Madrimov would be an excellent option for December 21st. Madrimov wouldn’t need Crawford if he could fight Boots.
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