Terence Crawford seems to have modified his preliminary objective of capturing a 3rd undisputed championship at 154 after his current battle towards WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August third.
Turki’s Indifference
Crawford, 36, now appears 100% targeted on touchdown a big-money fantasy-level battle towards Canelo Alvarez. Nevertheless, this battle might not be attainable to him as a result of the Mexican celebrity is ambivalent about combating one other smaller fighter who’s simply seeking to pad his checking account earlier than retirement.
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh doesn’t seem like all in favour of pursuing the Canelo-Crawford both, and that might be the final hope of this match occurring as a result of it is not going to generate the form of cash in income that might steadiness out Canelo and Crawford’s purse necessities. If Canelo desires 100+ million and Crawford comparable dough, it’s not occurring.
The one different identify Turki has talked of desirous to match Crawford towards is Vergil Ortiz Jr., recent off his controversial two-knockdown ‘win’ over Serhii Bohachuk. Nevertheless, Crawford appears hesitant about that one as a result of he’s not been speaking it up, which means that he acknowledges that a variety of laborious work would additional age him or smash his reputation, corresponding to with informal followers.
The risks of Shark-filled 154-pound division
“He realized these high 154-pound guys are not any joke. Madrimov had him neck-deep in his personal points. So, he needed to actually dig deep to drag out the win over [Israil] Madrimov, and the 154-pound division is stuffed with guys like Madrimov,” stated Paulie Malignaggi to the Probox TV YouTube channel about Terence Crawford, seeming to understand that attempting to turn into the undisputed champion at 154 perhaps an excessive amount of of a frightening job at his ripe age.
Madrimov landed one of the best punches of the battle in each spherical, and Crawford regarded afraid to let his palms go like he’d finished previously. He knew that when he would fireplace photographs, Madrimov would clip him along with his proper hand and freeze him in his tracks.
These photographs that Madrimov was touchdown had Crawford frozen for a fraction of a second as if his mind was saying, ‘Anticipate a second. Am I okay nonetheless?’ If Crawford stayed at 154, he must run by way of fights involving hungry, ravenous sharks with nearly equal energy to Madrimov however extra willingness to throw extra punches.
Crawford could be getting hit much more towards fighters like Sebastian Fundora, Tim Tszyu, Serhii Bohachuk, and Vergil Ortiz Jr.
“He’s considering, ‘At this stage, I didn’t construct my status to battle these younger, hungry destroyers, guys who’re nonetheless developing who’ve all these abilities and that salivating starvation,’” stated Malignaggi about Crawford’s mindset about combating at 154.
Crawford seemingly had a second of pure readability when the scorecards have been introduced for his battle towards Madrimov. He had dodged a bullet, being given a really questionable choice. After that ‘win,’
Crawford needed to know that his objective of turning into undisputed champion at 154 was out of attain, even with the identical set of judges working his fights. He’d come up empty ultimately, seemingly in his subsequent battle, and he’d be pressured to retire with a loss on his document.
Was Crawford Overrated?
The Madrimov battle confirmed that Crawford was by no means nearly as good as followers had thought. He’d crushed many older, worn-out guys within the 135, 140, and 147-lb divisions and adopted Adrien Broner’s path of profitable world titles in a number of divisions towards lesser fighters. Broner skillfully maneuvered to win 4 division titles with out combating any of the killers.
“I perceive why he wouldn’t need to battle these different guys. I don’t know if the Canelo battle goes to be made as a result of Turki Alalshikh didn’t appear that . It doesn’t curiosity me both. I like aggressive fights,” stated Malignaggi.
If Crawford stands proud attempting to turn into undisputed at 154, he’ll get crushed, which might be it for him and his objective. Furthermore, there’s not large cash for Crawford at 154 that there could be towards Canelo if the Mexican celebrity blessed him with a battle.
