Within the lead-up to Saturday’s protection of his junior middleweight title at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, Israil Madrimov has made no secret of his admiration for the accomplishments and elegance of his opponent, Terence Crawford.
However one of many few issues that will price as extremely in Madrimov’s e-book as Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs), the 36-year-old three-division champion and pound-for-pound dynamo?
Beating him.
“My dream has all the time been to battle the most effective boxers and the pound-for-pound boxers,” Madrimov mentioned. “Once I obtained the information that I’d be making my first world title protection towards Terence Crawford, I used to be very joyful. Let’s go! I’m prepared the entire time.”
Nonetheless, some marvel if Uzbekistan’s Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) really is prepared. Though 29 years previous, and with a prolific novice background for a basis, Madrimov has made solely 11 skilled fights. His title-winning bout got here in March in Saudi Arabia, in a convincing fifth-round stoppage of a somewhat-less-convincing belt holder in Magomed Kurbanov.
The gap between Kurbanov and Crawford seems like each mile between Riyadh and L.A.
“He doesn’t have any weaknesses,” Madrimov mentioned of Crawford. “I haven’t seen any of these, however I’ll attempt to uncover some. I’m very excited to get this chance to make an announcement, and I’ll, Inshallah. I’m not Errol Spence Jr. I’m Israil Madrimov. That is my division.”
Crawford, for his half, shall be testing the lengths to which he’s able to climbing the ladder, after having already licensed his dominance at 135, 140 and 147 kilos. Loads of previous champions so deep into their profession realized their limits towards an opponent who wasn’t absolutely appreciated till after making their bones towards them.
“He is shifting up in weight,” Madrimov mentioned. “I am the world champion right here, and I do not take into consideration him. I take into consideration myself and I take into consideration engaging in my targets and profitable this battle. It is an enormous honor and alternative for me to point out my expertise, and I need to win this battle in model.”
Somewhat than distracting from his mission, Madrimov’s respect for Crawford really fuels it. He’s motivated by the problem of scaling a mountain whose summit has but to be reached.
“I’ve all the time been a fan of Terence Crawford,” Madrimov mentioned. “I like his model. He has nice motion. It’s a great model. It’s true that he’s certainly one of my favourite boxers. There’s all the time a primary man, and I need to be the primary man to beat him and to interrupt the entire data.”
