Did the pregnant pause put him on edge? If you were him, Terence Crawford, in the ring in BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, your wrist held anticipatorily by referee Jack Reiss, how confident would you have felt in those lingering seconds before the scorecards were revealed? Certainly less confident than Crawford has been in the years that saw him compile eleven consecutive wins by knockout, registering the victories that set judges, their observations, and math firmly beneath the man they were tasked with evaluating.
Not since Crawford won his first world title, lifting the belt from Ricky Burns in “Rickster’s” native Scotland, had he reason to wonder how his perception of what happened between the ropes might differ from that of a select trio parked outside them. As they had in Glasgow in 2014, the scores on this night read in Crawford’s favor; closer this time, but still unanimous, crowning “Bud” a champion in a remarkable fourth division.
***
It was far from easy. Israil Madrimov welcomed Crawford to the junior middleweight division by pushing him in ways no opponent has, something Crawford all but admitted by how many of his postfight words were complimentary of his opponent. How graciously and insightfully he praised Madrimov’s strategy, his discipline, his refusal to, in Crawford’s words, “[throw] wild shots like I intended him to.” And those references to Madrimov’s strength and toughness, their repetition was born of relief.
Crawford was in a fight Saturday, not your typical crucible—the sort of revelatory blood & guts affair that even trimmed into a thirty-second clip can sate the sanguinary—but a fight nonetheless. Because Madrimov knew how to beat Crawford—the question was whether Madrimov was fighter enough to apply this knowledge convincingly and whether Crawford was not quite fighter enough to deny him.
If you are looking for the foundations of Madrimov’s unique approach to solving Crawford, there are hints of it in Shawn Porter, the former fullback of the welterweight division. Porter, who typically bored into opponents like he were clearing an A-gap, troubled Crawford early in their fight by boxing him, denying Crawford the opportunities to counter with his lethal hooks and uppercuts, hook-uppercuts, and uppercut-hooks. Unable to persist with his tempered aggression—perhaps, ironically, because of its success—Porter eventually reverted to form; Crawford followed, scoring a pair of knockdowns in the tenth round that prompted an act of paternal mercy from Kenny Porter.
But Madrimov had the focus (and toughness) to adhere to his game plan. Employing endless feints and the “fast feet, good rhythm upstairs” Crawford praised later that night, Madrimov pierced with straight punches and baited Crawford into single shots that Madrimov could, and did, sometimes counter. Undergirding that disciplined attack was the stamina and strength that allowed Madrimov to work tirelessly and absorb the punches, usually little more than jabs, Crawford landed. Crawford said he parsed Madrimov’s attack early, and we may take him at his word. But unlike the dozens of fighters Crawford has solved even in conceding a few early rounds, Madrimov was not bankrupted by the price of such success.
There were moments over the second half of the fight where Crawford sustained his attack, but with either his fists or his feet, Madrimov found a means of escape and, often, retaliation. If “The Dream” did not quite bring the fight to Crawford, he at least prevented a fight from developing. In that stifling effort, Madrimov not only avoided the kind of exchanges Crawford exploits but, against the backdrop of Crawford’s multiyear run of destruction, took the shine off the former undisputed welterweight champion. And yet, for all his troubles, Crawford closed like a champion—with the kind of dogged attack he may not have expected to need, but summoned to secure victory.
***
No, it wasn’t easy, but then, it isn’t supposed to be, is it? Crawford may be chasing a fight with super middleweight champion, Saul Alvarez, (or had been until exposed to the physics lesson of Saturday); he may want to become undisputed in a third consecutive division—whatever his reasons, Crawford has moved into his fourth weight class, and taken on a titlist in his first fight. The notion that he would simply walk through the biggest, strongest opponent of his career was rooted less in Madrimov than in what happened when Crawford last stepped into the ring—that spectacle in the T-Mobile Arena last July. Nor should Crawford suffer too much scrutiny for this latest title-winning performance. It is clear that 154 pounds is his physical limit, and the men who sweat and starve themselves under that threshold are not simply going to kneel and bare their necks for anyone, least of all a fighter conceding more than he ever has. While these men, the punishing Tim Tszyu, towering Sebastian Fundora, spiteful Jermell Charlo, may not be as awkward as Madrimov, they will match (and exceed) Crawford’s strength, take his power, and hurt him like no one he has yet faced. And they will do all that with a sneer toward this thirty-six-year-old imposter who dares trespass on their turf.
For these reasons, the final chapter in Crawford’s career could be its most intriguing. There is no Julius Indongo to halve in making whole a splintered title picture, no Spence to collect the titles before surrendering them. If Crawford is to clean out junior middleweight, he is likely to find himself in the kind of fights that exploit his limitations, imperil him, make him vulnerable; he will win with far less dominance than he’s accustomed to, and maybe even lose along the way.
Or not.
Maybe Crawford will raze this division like the others, cutting to pieces the fighters who, unlike the jittery Madrimov, will look to scalp Omaha’s finest, showing the kind of belligerence that Crawford marks with a sinister smile. Either way, this division, which should be Crawford’s last, will reveal all that a smaller, aging champion is capable of. And you want to know what that is.
The post Risky Business: Terence Crawford Invades the Junior Middleweight Division appeared first on Hannibal Boxing.
