Ismail Madrimov’s coach, Joel Diaz, predicts that he’ll work out Terence Crawford by the fifth or sixth spherical after which damage him with one thing massive this Saturday, August third, of their match in Turki Alalshikh’s Riyadh Season occasion in Los Angeles.
Diaz says WBA junior middleweight champion Madrimov (10-0-1, 9 KOs) has been hurting his speedy southpaw sparring companions whereas carrying 16 ouncesgloves in camp, getting ready for Crawford (40-0, 31 KO’s) for his or her twelve-round contest on the BMO Stadium.
Crawford’s Transfer to 154
Joel notes that the 36-year-old Crawford has excelled at 140 and 147, however it’s going to be a distinct story transferring as much as 154 to tackle Madrimov, who not solely can punch like nobody Terence has fought earlier than but additionally has an analogous fashion to him.
There are loads of query marks about Crawford going into this struggle as a result of he’s not solely going up in weight but additionally coming off an extended layoff of 13 months, and he’s positively not younger. It appears to some that Crawford is combating for the improper causes at this stage of his 16-year skilled profession, specializing in his want for cash.
Earlier than combating Errol Spence final 12 months, Crawford appeared extra bold, however now he appears money-hungry, and one will get the sense there’s a touch of greed behind all of it. That’s not good as a result of when fighters are pushed only for cash late of their careers, they wrestle.
“He was a 140-pounder and he was nice. He confirmed how good of a fighter he was at 140. He moved to 147 and did loads of harm there,” mentioned coach Joel Diaz to Struggle Hub TV, speaking about Terence Crawford transferring as much as 154 this Saturday night time towards Israil Madrimov.
Crawford by no means fought any killers at 140 or 147, and that’s the issue. When he fought in these weight lessons, it was earlier than the gifted fighters round. He selected to not struggle the younger lion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis at 147, which some noticed as a transparent duck, to make sure the Philadelphia native didn’t mess up his pursuit of a Canelo Alvarez payday struggle.
“How is he going to react at 154 towards a stable 154-pounder,” Diaz continued about Crawford. “Lots of people don’t know Israil Madrimov. I completely perceive lots of people saying it’s a simple struggle for Crawford.”
We don’t know the way Crawford will react when he feels the ability of Madrimov’s pictures as a result of he’s by no means fought anybody close to that 29-year-old’s energy stage.
Until Crawford scores an early knockout of Madrimov, he can be getting hit onerous by him in some unspecified time in the future, and if his chin can’t deal with these pictures, all his abilities and accomplishments from the previous received’t assist him.
“I might in all probability be the identical as all these folks if I didn’t know who Israil Madrimov is. He had over 300 beginner fights. He has loads of expertise. He’s run into fighters with an analogous fashion as Crawford,” mentioned Diaz.
Informal boxing followers really feel this can be a simple struggle for Crawford, however that’s as a result of they’re ignorant about Madrimov. Even some hardcore boxing followers haven’t taken the time to look at his fights to present an correct evaluation of what he can do to Crawford.
“His ring IQ is above loads of fighters,” Diaz mentioned about Crawford. “Israil can swap lefty and righty identical to Crawford. We’ve been training for each, lefty and righty. If Terence Crawford tries to smother you, keep composed.”
Crawford’s switch-hitting in his fights doesn’t assist him, however it will get the commentators on tv to rave about him. He’s higher when he’s combating within the orthodox stand and wastes time when he switches to southpaw. It’s all for positive, however with little substance.
Potential for an Early Knockout
“We’ve got to make changes. Spherical by spherical, issues can change. We’re going to see a technical struggle within the early rounds till we work out Crawford,” mentioned Diaz about Madrimov. “By the fifth or sixth spherical, as soon as Israil has his timing and distance, he can damage him as a result of I’ve seen it in sparring.”
If Diaz is correct about Madrimov hurting Crawford by the fifth or sixth spherical, we may see an early night time on Saturday and plenty of upset followers of the Nebraska native.
I’m simply questioning how His Excellency Turki will deal with it, seeing Crawford lose as a result of he’s been excessive on him, speaking up a match towards Canelo.
“I’ve introduced in some quick, technical lefties, and Israil would do his factor to the purpose the place you might see these punches that he was touchdown may do some harm. He was carrying 16 ouncesgloves in sparring. With 10 ouncesgloves, he’s very explosive, and he’s very unpredictable. He catches you with loads of punches, and people punches do loads of harm. Israil can go 15 rounds, no issues,” mentioned Diaz.
Madrimov’s energy might be an actual downside for Crawford on Saturday night time if he’s in a position to land his pictures on him like he did his final opponent Magomed Kurbanov.
