Israil Madrimov says he wants the Canelo Alvarez fight next after he defeats challenger Terence Crawford on August 3rd in their highly anticipated fight ten days from now at the BMO stadium in Los Angeles.
WBA junior middleweight champion Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KO)s) many people have jumped the gun, assuming that Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) will defeat him and then move on to the Canelo mega-fight in May 2025.
Fans are so accustomed to seeing Crawford win that they can’t fathom him losing to anyone, and they’ll be in shock if Madrimov is the first to defeat him. Hopefully, they accept the reality and not cry that he was robbed and start pressuring the WBA to order a rematch.
Madrimov Being Overlooked
Unfortunately, fighters must lose if they stay around the sport long enough, take yearly vacations, get old, and move up weight classes recklessly based on their desire for increasingly bigger paydays.
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh hasn’t said whether Madrimov can fight Canelo if he’s victorious against Crawford on August 3rd.
The fact that Turki hasn’t said that Madrimov has the Canelo option, too, if he’s victorious, suggests that Crawford will only be offered a match because he’s a star in the U.S. Madrimov is just the belt-holder that Crawford must overcome to get the fight against Canelo at 168.
“They always say Terence Crawford is pound-for-pound because he’s moving left and right. He’s smart,” said Israil Madrimov to Little Giant Boxing about his up-and-coming fight on August 3rd.
When a fighter is inactive and old, like Crawford, you can’t put them on pound-for-pound lists because he doesn’t fight often enough and hasn’t fought anyone dangerous for many years.
“Nothing,” said Madrimov when asked what he thinks of Crawford wanting to fight Canelo Alvarez next. “We are waiting for August 3rd to see who is the champion, and then Canelo-Madrimov. Maybe.”
Crawford’s Desperate Payday Pursuit
Crawford wants the big payday before retiring. You can’t blame him for that. The big money that he got in his fights against Errol Spence and David Avanesyan spoiled him rotten, and now all he wants is big cash.
The only one he can fight to get that money is Canelo. So, it makes sense that he chirping about that because he’s only his way out of the sport, and he’s not going to stick around until he’s in his 40s.
He doesn’t want to end up food for the young sharks that would chew him up. There’s plenty of them right now that would feed on Crawford, but he’s not going to fight them.
“A lot of people talk about Canelo-Crawford, but we have a fight on August 3rd. Don’t forget. I’m focusing only on my game plan, and I’m waiting to show it in the ring. Me too. I can go left and right. I think this fight is very interesting for boxing fans,” said Madrimov.
It’s got to be annoying for Madrimov that fans and the media are already crowning Crawford the new WBA 154-lb champion, as it’s a done deal. People have gotten too accustomed to seeing Crawford win, and they don’t take in the fact that he’s been defeating ho-hum opposition his entire career.
He’s never fought an elite-level fighter, and you don’t know what he will look like at 37 in a new weight class against a guy who would beat everyone he’s ever fought. Top Rank did the best they could with Crawford during the many years they had him, but he never fought anyone good during all that time. They were always old, shot, or bottom feeders.
“I don’t like to say early [what I’m going to do]. I like to wait until the fight to show how we make the fight,” said Madrimov.
It would be smart for Madrimov to look for a knockout because Crawford will be difficult to beat by a decision. Crawford is the A-side, and the judges will likely give him every close round due to his star power. Madrimov needs to be aware of that because he’ll be upset afterward if it goes to the cards and he’s not given a fair shake by the judges.
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