Israil 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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