Turki Alalshikh reports that tickets for the Riyadh Season LA event headlined by Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov are now a sellout this Saturday, August 3rd, at the 22,000-seat BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California. The event will be shown live on DAZN PPV this Saturday.
If the event hadn’t sold out, Crawford’s lack of crossover appeal would be viewed as the reason, as he’s never proven himself to be a PPV draw during his long career.
Alalshikh Credits Crawford, Overlooks Stacked Undercard
Alalshkikh owes the success of the tickets being sold out to Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) rather than the combined contributions of the many popular fighters on the stacked undercard, arguably the best the U.S. has ever seen.
Some fighters on the undercard may be the true reason for Saturday’s event selling out, besides the hard work promoter Eddie Hearn has put in driving interest.
Hearn has done an exemplary job promoting the Crawford-Madrimov event by discussing it on social media and during many interviews in the past two weeks. Crawford has more in the background during the promotion.
The Undercard’s Undeniable Appeal
- Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz vs. Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela
- Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Jarrell Miller
- Jared Anderson vs. Martin Bakole
- Andy Cruz vs. Antonio Moran
- David Morrell vs. Radivoje Kalajdzic
To everyone and Timothy Bradley included, tickets for Riyadh Season Card, LA are SOLD OUT! Crawford, a true mega star and the number one P4P, very excited for the business opportunities ahead. 🔥🥊
See you all at the BMO on August 3rd! pic.twitter.com/3ZotEmiVYZ
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) August 2, 2024
“We all know he’s strong. We all know he’s smart. He has a good amateur pedigree and good footwork, and he can be elusive at times. He can do a lot in there,” Terence Crawford told DAZN Boxing about what makes Israil Madrimov so good.
Is Crawford Underestimating His Opponent?
“He can counter and he’s rugged at times. These guys, you can’t take lightly. I’ve been fighting bigger guys might whole life, so this is nothing new,” said Crawford when asked if he might have to change his aggressive fighting style, given that he’s moving up to 154, and facing the powerful puncher, Madrimov.
It’s unclear whether Crawford purposely does not admit that he’s facing a guy bigger and stronger than his past opposition or is oblivious to what he’s facing on Saturday night.
“I’ve been fighting guys that they say is stronger than me, punch faster, taller or more explosive. I’m going to fight the style that gets the job done,” said Crawford.
The guys that fans and the media have said were stronger than Crawford wasn’t near Madrimov’s level in the side or punching power. Crawford didn’t name the fighters people said were stronger than him, but he’s likely talking about this small group:
Errol Spence
Jeff Horn
Kell Brook
Shawn Porter
David Avanesyan
Egidijus Kavaliauskas
Jose Benavidez Jr
Those fighters aren’t as powerful or as big as Madrimov, and hopefully, Crawford isn’t assuming that he’s no different than them.
Read the full article here
