Xander Zayas, a highly ranked junior middleweight contender, says Terence Crawford will get bullied by some of the bigger fighters at 154 if he mixes it with them.
Crawford’s Limitations Exposed
Zayas notes that Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) had been walking down fighters while competing at 135, 140, and 147, but he couldn’t do that as much in his debut against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd in Los Angeles.
Xander doesn’t say which fighters would bully Crawford, but he’s probably thinking of these potential bullies:
- Sebastian Fundora
- Vergil Ortiz Jr.
- Serhii Bohachuk
- Tim Tszyu
- Charles Conwell
- Erickson Lubin
- Brian Mendoza
- Israil Madrimov: *If Madrimov fights aggressively in the rematch, Crawford will be in a world of hurt.
Crawford, 36, was getting tagged repeatedly by powerful right hands from Madrimov, and his shots didn’t carry the same strength as they had when fighting at 147. He won only because Madrimov failed to fight as aggressively as he needed in rounds eight through twelve.
The fight exposed Crawford as having reached his ceiling at 154 of what he’s capable of, and he won’t be able to go beyond the division to succeed at 160 or 168. Crawford is too small, old, and weak to compete at 154, especially against a fighter like Canelo Alvarez. That’s the guy that Crawford wants in what would be viewed as a gloried celebrity match.
“147, he was walking guys down, at 140 and 135; not so much at 154, and [Israil] Madrimov is not the biggest guy at 154,” said Xander Zayas to the Secondsout YouTube channel, reacting to Terence Crawford’s unimpressive debut at junior middleweight against WBA champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd.
A Dangerous Division
What we witnessed from Crawford in the Madrimov fight was him reaching his limit and age starting to show as well. It’s a witch’s brew involving Crawford’s age, inactivity, and fighting above his capabilities. We knew Crawford would reach his limit once he became too ambitious, but I didn’t think he would wait this long to move up finally.
Crawford, a Nebraska native, should have done this years ago because he’s been spinning his wheels at 147, locked out of the important fights, and stuck defending his WBO trinket against low-level opposition.
“It’s different, different waters. I’m not saying he [Crawford] will have trouble against a lot of people, but there are some of us that are big enough that we can bully a little bit more than other fighters,” said Zayas on what Crawford will deal with if he mixes it up with some of the bigger, stronger fighters in the 154-lb division.
If Crawford stays around to fight the bigger and braver 154-pounders, he’ll start losing, and he’ll be forced to retire.
On the bright side, at least he will have tested his limits instead of giving up after one fight against Madrimov, which seems to have scared him away from venturing further into the shark-invested 154-lb waters. It’s a dangerous place for older fighters, especially when they only fight annually like Crawford.
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