Israil Madrimov called for fair judging to be done for his fight against superstar Terence Crawford on Saturday night in Los Angeles.
The WBA Junior middleweight champion Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) is from Uzbekistan and will visit the U.S. when he defends against his American Challenger Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs). He wants the fight to be judged fairly by the three officials who will work it.
With a mega-fight between Crawford and Canelo Alvarez looming for next year, it’s understandable why Madrimov and his team would be concerned that his match against Terence will be judged fairly.
Given the amount of money a Canelo-Crawford fight will bring in, Madrimov has reason to worry about being given a fair shake with the scoring.
Crawford is expected to land more punches in this fight, but the weaker variety, mostly jabs as opposed to power shots. Madrimov possesses GGG-like power, but he’s not known for having a high work rate and doesn’t focus as much on landing jabs as Crawford does.
Madrimov’s Plea for Fairness
“I know that I’m fighting the best in Terence Crawford and his team, but I’m also fighting his fans and the rest, and I’m hoping that everything will be fair and neutral,” said Israil Madrimov during the final press conference on Thursday.
Madrimov’s manager, Vadim Kornilov, also expressed concerns about the judging, saying, “I’m hoping that everything will be fair and square on fight night.”
The last thing Saturday’s Riyadh Season event needs is for Crawford to be given a controversial win over Madrimov in the main event. That would taint the whole evening, leaving fans with a bad impression of the whole night.
Madrimov, 29, can help himself if he takes the judging out of the equation entirely by knocking Crawford out. That’s the best way. Israil has been compared to Gennadiy Golovkin in terms of his power, and that great fighter was known for knocking out his opponents.
The Shadow of Past Controversies
Of course, many fans felt that Golovkin was given a raw deal in his first and second fights with Canelo in 2017 and 2018 and should have won both. As such, even GGG was affected by controversial scoring. Madrimov has obviously learned from watching these fights and is worried that he could suffer the same fate on Saturday.
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