On Saturday night at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, Terence Crawford, a native of Omaha, Neb., added to his résumé by defeating Israil Madrimov of Uzbekistan by a 12-round unanimous decision, 115-113, 116-112, and 115-113, to secure the WBA junior middleweight championship and claim the vacant WBO interim light middleweight championship in his first fight in the 154-pound division.
In doing so, Crawford became a four-division champion, having held belts at 135, 140, 147, and now 154. He is the only man to be an undisputed champion in two divisions in the four-belt era. Claressa Shields, the current WBF and WBC female heavyweight champion, is the only other boxer to have achieved that distinction.
“He wasn’t throwing wild shots like I was wanting him to do,” said the 36-year-old Crawford of his opponent (41-0, 31 KOs). “I figured it out from the get-go, but I was being patient. I didn’t wanna rush in with anything; that’s how I got caught a couple of times—trying to eat too soon.”
Crawford, who had stopped 11 consecutive opponents dating back to July 2016 until Madrimov took him the distance, was \ complimentary of his opponent, who suffered the first loss of his career.
“Israil was a tough competitor,” Crawford said. “I knew he was going to be tough, I knew all about him when I went to Uzbekistan. He’s really strong, he’s durable, he took a lot of good shots. He got me to round 12. He had fast feet, good rhythm upstairs, and he was strong. And he was waiting to counter me, just like I was trying to counter him.”
Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) thought he did enough to secure the victory.
“I fought the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and I believe that I did enough because I was the champion,” said Madrimov. “I was defending the belt and I was controlling the rhythm. and I felt very comfortable inside of the ring.”
Madrimov admitted to being cautious against a dangerous fighter.
“I was holding myself back a lot, too, so in the rematch, I can make a lot more. I already know what to do and can push harder,” he said.
Do not expect a rematch unless there was a unreported rematch clause, since Crawford, who turns 37 next month, wants to unify a third division before he retires.
When asked about a potential fight against Canelo Alvarez after his victory, Crawford said, “If the money’s right, we got a fight, but at the same time, he’s got a fight that he’s focused on. I’m going to relax, enjoy this win.”
Crawford’s fight against Madrimov may be an indication he should stay away from Canelo, especially at 168 pounds. He may be too small.
Canelo was in New York City on Monday for the first stop in a two-city press tour to promote his September 14 fight against Edgar Berlanga. Simply put, this is not a good fight. Canelo seems to have given up on competitive fights in 2024—his May fight against Jaime Munguía was not challenging for him and he overpowered his opponent in winning 115-113, 117-110, and 116-111. Canelo has not knocked out an opponent since November 2021. With 65 fights under his belt, including two wars against Gennady Golovkin, he is not the same fighter anymore. Based on his opponent choices, he appears to know it.
Also on Saturday, Jose Valenzuela (14-2, 9 KOs) won the WBA super lightweight championship when he defeated fellow Mexican Isaac Cruz (26-3-1, 18 KOs). Martin Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs) handed Jared Anderson (17-1, 12 KOs) the first loss when he dropped Anderson three times for a fifth-round knockout.