Boxing
Crawford’s age and weight jump could spell disaster for Madrimov
Published
6 months agoon
By
J. HumzaIsrail Madrimov’s trainer, Joel Diaz, believes the combination of Terence Crawford’s age (37) and weight move to 154 pounds will have a disastrous effect on his performance on Saturday night when he faces Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) for the WBA junior middleweight world title at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
Preparing for Crawford’s wrestling
Diaz believes Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) is trying his luck against Madrimov, who is hydrating to the mid-170s and is robust at that weight. The 5’8″ Madrimov is huge with a stocky build and strength that are better suited for the 168-pound division than 154.
Joel says Madrimov has been training with wrestlers for this camp, which is intelligent for him. A huge part of Crawford’s game is fighting opponents in the clinch to wear them down and land punches at close range.
If we take that away from Crawford, he has one less advantage in this fight, as he is already at a disadvantage in terms of strength, youth, and size.
“Israil is ready for whatever Crawford brings. We touched on a lot of the robust points that Terence Crawford brings to the fight,” said coach Joel Diaz Probox TV about his fighter Israil Madrimov, who trained what Terence Crawford does best ahead of their fight this coming Saturday, August 3rd.
Crawford’s mobility has decreased significantly with age, and he primarily relies on straight punches, ranged strikes and the clinch to win fights.
He likes to lean against the ropes to operate them to support his tired legs, then deliver tiny punches from the inside. For obvious reasons, he’s gotten away with it with Errol Spence, David Avanesyan, and Shawn Porter. Those guys are pretty elderly now.
“Crawford has never fought in this weight class [154]”He’s a former lightweight who’s coming up through the ranks,” said boxing expert Paulie Malignaggi.
Crawford’s sparring with 40-year-old Andre Ward was nearly useless to him, as it won’t lend a hand him adjust to fighting a 154-pound knockout artist like Israil Madrimov, who will be a solid 175-pounder tonight. Ward hadn’t fought in years and looked like he had Elvis’s abs.
Crawford’s Age and Worsening Skills
“You know what age does. We get older and obviously he’s not the same,” coach Diaz said of how the soon-to-be 37-year-old Crawford isn’t the same player because of his age.
You only need to watch elderly footage of Crawford’s 2018 fight with Jeff Horn and compare it to his last fight with Errol Spence Jr. in July 2023 to know that Terence is not the same fighter. He is not Benjamin Button who is getting older, and he certainly has not discovered the fountain of youth from which he restores his youth.
“Crawford hasn’t fought many wars, but every fight has its justification [camp]and every camp is exhausted. He’s 37. There are many things that give me hope besides the training and the boxing schedule that we have. He comes in at 154.”
It doesn’t matter that Crawford hasn’t fought many wars due to frail opposition, because he is a 37-year-old fighter and has suffered a lot during his training camps.
Even without wars, a person approaching 40 is practically a fossil in the sport. Boxing is a sport for the adolescent, and it’s even worse when a fighter takes a year off after each fight, as Crawford routinely does.
“He was great at 135, 140 and 147. He’s moving up to another weight class, 154. Madrimov is a solid 154. He’s moving up to a solid 175, 175. We’ll see how Crawford’s punches affect [the bigger, stronger, and younger 29-year-old] “Israil Madrimov,” Diaz said.
Diaz makes no mention of the opponents Crawford faced at 135, 140 and 147, mostly a collection of survivors heading into the final round.
Questionable quality of Crawford’s previous opposition
Errol Spence
Shawn Porter
Jeff Rog
Kell’s Stream
Ricky Burns
Yuriorkis Gamboa
Victor Postol
Six of those seven fighters were very elderly and well past their prime when Crawford fought them. That’s why it’s demanding to draw much from Crawford’s previous 40 wins on his resume, because Never took part in any elite or A level competitions.
On Saturday, Crawford will step into the ring for the first time against a fighter of outstanding talent, and it could end badly for him.
“You see Canelo go down to 175 to fight Dmitry Bivol, and you see what happened. [Canelo’s power didn’t carry up, and he was too small to compete]”- said Diaz.
Canelo’s strength prevented him from moving up in weight from 168 to 175 pounds, and he looked like he would be an ill-suited fit for WBA airy heavyweight champion Bivol in their 2022 fight.
The same thing could happen to Crawford, who is even less energetic than Canelo and is fighting a much bigger puncher in Madrimov. This could be an eye-opening experience for Crawford, showing that he overreached a bit, not recognizing his foe.
“He trains with wrestlers,” Diaz said of Madrimov’s work with wrestlers and jiu-jitsu fighters at camp. That could lend a hand in the Crawford fight, since he likes to fight in the clinch.
If Madrimov can take away Crawford’s wrestling ability, it will force him to focus on other tools that are more related to boxing. Crawford does not have the strength to get into the trenches and fight Madrimov, as he has power similar to GGG, and for a fighter who rarely fights and is approaching 40, it would be too risky to go to war.
Crawford’s age and inactivity over the past four years could be his undoing if he fights Madrimov the same way he did his three previous opponents: Errol Spence, David Avanesyan and Shawn Porter.
All of these fighters were older fighters who had no skills left when they fought Crawford, and he used their restricted skills to win by knockout.
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Boxing
Ryan Rozicki is waiting for Badou Jack’s consent to mandatory cooperation with the WBC
Published
2 days agoon
January 13, 2025The World Boxing Council (WBC) ordered world cruiserweight champion Badou “The Ripper” Jack (20-1-1, 19 KO) to make a mandatory title defense against Ryan “The Bruiser” Rozicki (20-1), number 1 in the WBC ranking – 1, 19 KOs).
If both camps fail to successfully negotiate an agreement, the WBC will organize a tender on February 4, followed by the Jack vs. Rozicki. Rozicki’s promoter, Three Lions Promotions, immediately sent Team Jacek an offer to promote the fight in Canada last week.
“We are waiting for their counteroffer,” explained promoter Dan Otter of Three Lions Promotions. “Boxing has had a huge resurgence in Canada and Ryan is leading the way. He is one of the most electrifying and hardest-hitting fighters in boxing, definitely in the cruiserweight division. He wants the WBC green belt and ultimately the unification of the division. Ryan will fight Jack anywhere for the belt.”
29-year-old Rozicki, born in Sydney (Nova Scotia) and living in Hamilton (Ontario), fought 22 professional fights against 21 different opponents (twice against Yamil Alberto Peralta), stopping 19 of the 20 opponents he defeated. an eye-opening 95-KO percentage.
Jack, 41, was a 2008 Olympian representing his native Sweden. He is a three-division world champion, as well as the WBC super middleweight and World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight heavyweight title holder. Jack has a record of 5-0-2 (2 KO) in world championship fights.
“We respect Jack and I don’t want to sound disrespectful,” Otter added, “but he’s over 40 years vintage and has been relatively inactive for two years (only one fight). He brings a lot of experience and respect to the ring, but he will fight a newborn defender with a lot of power. Jack is going to struggle and honestly, I don’t think he’ll make it past the first few rounds.”
Ryan Rozicki is on a mission to become the first Canadian cruiserweight world champion.
The next move is Badou Jack’s.
Boxing
Floyd Mayweather’s record is not normal, it can’t happen in 70 years
Published
4 days agoon
January 12, 2025Floyd Mayweather’s incredible 50-0 record is not normal and cannot be repeated in sports for another seventy years.
This is the view of Saudi Arabian president Turki Alalshikh, who wants to adopt the UFC model in which fighters lose many fights during their career.
In a speech as he hosted the Ring Magazine Awards after acquiring the long-running boxing publication from Oscar De La Hoya, Alalshikh was unequivocal in his opinion.
“Now losing some fights in boxing must be normal,” he explained. “All fighters want a career similar to Floyd Mayweather – no losses. This may happen once every 50, 60 or 70 years.
“We need it [to be] like currently in the UFC model, where champions lose and win,” added the matchmaker during the Riyad season.
Mayweather rose through the sport in the tardy 1990s to become one of its youngest superstars. Mayweather’s professional success came after winning a bronze medal at the Olympics after losing to Serafim Todorov.
Winning world titles in five weight classes, Mayweather was untouchable. The Grand Rapids native only came close to defeat a few times. He dominated Manny Pacquiao and overtook Canelo Alvarez and Oscar De La Hoya after heated debates, with decisions that should have been made unanimously.
Towards the end of his career, Mayweather chose to face Andre Berto and Conor McGregor, easily winning and ending his boxing career at the age of 50 without ever going out. Calling himself “the greatest of all time,” Mayweather earned first-ballot Hall of Fame honors and is widely considered one of, if not the greatest defensive fighter of all time.
However, Alalshikh says this type of career needs to end so that fans can get the most out of boxing, as is the case with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Boxing needs to become more attractive, and Alalshikh sees the failures of top stars as a way to keep interest at an all-time high.
In this sport, many boxers enjoy undefeated streaks, the most notable of which is Oleksandr Usyk. The Ukrainian Pound for Pound King is 23-0 and has beaten the best he has to offer in his division and cruiserweight classification.
It remains a mystery how Alalshikh plans to make Usyk suffer while he dominates everyone else. By the time his grand plan goes into action, Usyk will be long gone, and Gervonta Davis, Shakur Stevenson and Devin Haney may be more realistic targets.
Boxing
Manny Pacquiao remains the favorite to win the title against Mario Barrios
Published
1 week agoon
January 6, 2025WBN understands that despite alternative options emerging, it is more likely that Manny Pacquiao will face Mario Barrios next.
Bob Santos, coach of WBC welterweight champion Barrios, told World Boxing News that he is currently in contact with Pacquiao’s team. Asked by WBN if he had spoken to Pacquiao or representatives of any other challenger, Santos replied: “Yes, Pacquiao’s promoter, Sean Gibbons.” Pressed on whether Barrios vs Pacquiao might happen next, he added: “It’s challenging to say. We’ll have to see how this plays out.”
WBN contacted Santos after Conor Benn emerged as a potential alternative to Barrios. The British fighter, who recently returned from a suspension following two positive drug tests, is keen to return to competition.
Benn showed favor with the World Boxing Council at the recent WBC Convention, the WBC Evaluation Committee and during an interview with the sanctioning body over the weekend. “The Destroyer” is ranked second in the rankings at 147 pounds, despite less than solid opponents during his time in exile, during which Benn competed twice in the United States while his career in the United Kingdom was in doubt.
As he battled to clear his name and with the British Anti-Doping Authority finding no evidence that Benn had intentionally taken ostarine, the 28-year-old’s career took a pointed nosedive. Despite this, he remains highly rated and at least one step away from fighting for an eliminator or one of the remaining championship titles.
However, Pacquiao remains Barrios’ favorite. Now it’s up to the boxing legend and Hall of Famer who got the first votes to secure his shot. WBN believes a July date – most likely at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas – is the most realistic date for a Nevada swan song.
Pacquiao could extend his record as the oldest welterweight champion by six years if he can secure a huge victory over the 29-year-old world champion. At 46 years antique, such a scenario remains unlikely, but he can never be compared to one of the greatest players of this generation.
Unlike heavier boxers and his training regiment, Pacquiao looks in great shape despite his advanced age. Everything is set for a massive return to the boxing capital of the world, provided Pacquiao and his team can manage his political ambitions, which are expected to run from this month until May. After that time, Pacquiao could find himself in the summer finals and become the all-time champion, regardless of the result.
Barrios is based in the city, where he trained with Santos, and would be the perfect opponent to see out the career of one of the greatest fighters in history.
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