Terence Crawford’s trainer, Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre, is showing signs of overconfidence, saying that Bud “might dust” Israil Madrimov on Saturday in their 12-rounder at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. BoMac predicts Crawford will win and remain ranked high in the pound-for-pound lists.
Crawford is fighting a guy with GGG-like power, and what’s worse, he’s facing him after a long layoff. This move reeks of overconfidence on Crawford’s part, who is drunk on his past success and feels he can beat anyone now.
(Credit: Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)
Crawford has a lot of pressure on him in this fight because he’s got to make it exciting. There are a lot of fans that will be watching on DAZN PPV, and he’s got to impress Canelo Alvarez enough to want to give him a fight.
Inactivity Breeds Uncertainty
“We’re feeling good. Terence is ready, and the team is ready. We’re just happy to get to this point to show the world that we continue to be pound-for-pound best in the world. Come Saturday, you’ll see,” said trainer Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre to Pro Boxing Fans about Terence Crawford’s clash against Israil Madrimov.
Coach BoMac says Crawford is ready, but we don’t know that. He’s been kicking back, and on Saturday night, he’s facing a killer puncher with GGG-like power. We don’t know how Crawford will react when the 170+ lb Madrimov starts landing his shots on him.
For a fighter who started his career at 135 and hasn’t mostly middle-of-the-road competition at 147 against old timers, you don’t like to see Crawford going up against a young knockout artist like Madrimov in his first fight at 154.
“We’ll see. We won’t know until we get in there. It may look good on paper, but he might dust him when it comes to the fight, or it might be tough,” said BoMac when asked if Madrimov is the toughest fight of Crawford’s 16-year professional career.
As you can tell, BoMac is used to Crawford fighting many lesser guys at 135, 140, and 147, and he’s assuming that Madrimov will be just another easy opponent for him. Madrimov isn’t a fighter in his mid-30s; he is weight-drained and worn down from car crashes and inactivity.
Spence’s Praise of Crawford
“That’s great. I’m glad he’s backing Terence. That goes to show you that there are some good fighters out there who believe in Terence,” said BoMac, reacting to being told that Errol Spence predicts a victory for Crawford in a potential fight against Canelo Alvarez in 2025.
Spence has been smothering Crawford with compliments recently, and some see this as a sign that he’s purposely trying to endear himself with him to get a rematch. That’s the biggest payday out there for Spence, and he knows it.
If Spence is serious about believing Crawford can beat Canelo, it doesn’t matter because he probably won’t get the fight anyway. It’s just name-dropping at this point, the constant mentioning of Canelo because he’s already said he has no interest in fighting Crawford.
“We’ll get that win,” said BoMac, predicting that Crawford would defeat Madrimov on Saturday.
“He is the current WBA 154-lb champion, Israil Madrimov. He had an incredible amateur career, and now he’s making his strides in the professional ranks,” said commentator Ade Oladipo to DAZN Boxing, talking about Crawford’s opponent for Saturday night.
“It won’t get any more difficult for him this Saturday against Terence Crawford, but he’s ready,” continued Ade.
Crawford Must Entertain
What’s going to be interesting is to see what kind of approach Crawford takes to this fight against Madrimov. Will he come to fight or box around, fighting slickly for twelve rounds? Will fans at ringside, who are paying a lot of money to watch the event, cheer if Crawford moves around the ring all night, or will they boo him?
This is Los Angeles, and fans want to be entertained in this city. The undercard, which features exciting performers like Isaac Cruz, Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela, and David Morrell, will set a high bar for the main event between Crawford and Madrimov.
I hope Crawford is cognizant of this because if he comes out using his Shakur-esque style, as he has in the past, he could be booed out of the BMO Stadium. Moreover, if Canelo Alvarez is watching that performance at home, he will mentally scratch him off his list as a potential opponent in 2025.
“I asked him [Crawford] yesterday, ‘Is this bigger than Errol?’ Obviously, Errol was the fight we’d been waiting for for the last decade. He said it was because it brings a different set of eyeballs. He [Crawford] mentioned that Errol was a fight for the urban community. It was one they were craving, whereas this one is a bit different.”
Thus far, the BMO Stadium hasn’t sold out for Saturday, and it’s unclear if the event will bring in over 1M PPV buys like Spence-Crawford one.
“He was not putting shade on Errol Spence. He was bringing light to the situation,” said boxing expert Shawn Porter, talking about Crawford’s comment. “This is the biggest situation he’s in for the sport of boxing in amateur or pro. It don’t get no bigger than this.”
There was tremendous interest in Crawford’s last fight against Errol Spence a year ago because the U.S. public had been asking for the fight since Terence moved up to 147 in 2018. The public hasn’t been demanding for Crawford to fight Madrimov.
Ignoring The Public
They’d been pushing for Crawford to face the talented welterweight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, but he’s had no interest in doing so.
Crawford has avoided Boots like the plague and purposefully chose Madrimov, even though it’s a smaller fight. It’s easy to see some ducking going on with Crawford, who may not want to risk the big payday against Canelo Alvarez next year.
Taking a lesser fight against Madrimov over a bigger one against Ennis is a sign of fear and avoidance. That’s fine. Everyone knows their limitations.
Madrimov isn’t well known like Spence, so obviously, there’s less interest in this fight involving Crawford than a year ago. It’s still a good fight, but not quite as compelling to casual boxing fans, who have no clue who Madrimov is other than a guy that resembles Gennadiy Golovkin and does a lot of backflips inside the ring.
Crawford’s frequent spells of inactivity and his wins over less-than-stellar opponents over the last ten years make it difficult to buy into the hype about him.
Casual fans who aren’t in tune with the sport will be impressed by Crawford’s resume. Boxing experts like myself know that Crawford has been padding his record for over a decade and hasn’t fought a live body since his win over Yuriorkis Gamboa in 2014.
Read the full article here
