Promoter Eddie Hearn has doubts that the brilliance of Terence Crawford, already a three-weight champ, will switch to junior middleweight the place he challenges WBA boss Israil Madrimov on August 3.
Crawford, 40-0 (31 KOs), is extensively thought of to be the pound-for-pound greatest fighter within the sport right now. He received his first title down at light-weight in opposition to Ricky Burns again in 2014 and since then has gone on to beat the junior welterweight and welterweight divisions – changing into undisputed in each. Now Crawford, 36, is aiming to win a belt in a fourth division when he takes on Madrimov.
“Terence Crawford’s first-ever victory as world champion was on my present in Glasgow [against Ricky Burns], it was at 135 kilos,” Hearn, talking as Madrimov’s promoter, instructed Matchroom Boxing. “He received a world championship there, he moved to 140 and beat one other considered one of our fighters there to grow to be undisputed at 140 kilos. He moved to 147 and have become undisputed at 147. Now he’s transferring to 154, ultimately it’s an excessive amount of.
Though Hearn accepts his fighter is the underdog going into the competition due to Crawford’s previous achievements, he believes that the scale and energy of the Uzbekistan fighter would be the deciding issue.
“I believe while you’re combating somebody who’s an enormous 154-pounder with big energy, that’s while you’re going to get came upon,” Hearn continued. “[Madrimov is] the underdog going into this battle, however I believe that is the hardest battle of Terence Crawford’s profession to date. [Crawford] will already go down as a terrific, however in some unspecified time in the future, while you transfer by way of the divisions, a kind of steps is only a step too far.”
