Terence Crawford gave the needy Teofimo Lopez the important thing to getting an opportunity to battle him by dealing with and beating former 154-lb world champion Israil Madrimov subsequent.
(Credit score: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
Madrimov is a giant puncher with Golovkin-like energy in both hand, and it might be a troublesome battle for Lopez to take to earn an opportunity to battle Crawford for the gold.
If High Rank set Teofimo up with a match in opposition to Madrimov, the battle would draw a lot curiosity because of its oddity. Lopez Jr. can be shifting up two divisions from 140 to 154 to tackle Madrimov.
Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) in an insurmountable barrier in entrance of him that the struggling ‘Takeover’ Teofimo Jr. (21-1, 13 KOs) should go to have the chance to face him.
Whereas Lopez Jr was one of many younger fighters on the rise 4 years in the past after his upset win over Vasily Lomachenko in 2020, his star has burned out after 5 horrible performances.
If nonetheless younger 27-year-old Teofimo needs to earn the possibility for a mega-payday battle in opposition to Crawford, he’ll conform to the battle in opposition to the not too long ago crushed Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) and take his probabilities. Nicknamed ‘Little GGG,’ Madrimov is a giant puncher who lit up Crawford with highly effective proper fingers on August third on the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California.
Madrimov got here near defeating Crawford, shedding a 12-round unanimous resolution by the scores 115-113, 116-112 and 115-113. That was by far the toughest battle of Crawford’s profession, and he was fortunate that Madrimov made the error of not stepping his foot on the accelerator within the championship rounds.
Lopez’s as soon as promising profession has imploded since his victory over a smaller, older Vasily Lomachenko in October 2020. Some really feel that Lomachenko took one thing out of Lopez with the pictures that he hit him with in that battle. Teofimo has been inconsistent contained in the ring since that battle, solely wanting spectacular in one in every of his final six fights in opposition to Josh Taylor.
Teofimo’s Disappointing Performances
– Steve Claggett
– Jamaine Ortiz
– Sandor Martin
– Pedro Campa
– George Kambosos Jr.
– Masayoshi Nakatani
– Vasily Lomachenko
@TeofimoLopez if you happen to can beat @IsrailMadrimov in yo subsequent battle I’ll battle you deal?😁 let’s see how critical you wanna battle me.
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) October 6, 2024
