Tim Bradley says he still believes Terence Crawford can beat Canelo Alvarez at 168, even after his performance against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov.
Like Shawn Porter and other Crawford fans, Bradley was impressed by how he fought against Madrimov. He feels that he “dominated” Madrimov and “tamed him.” I didn’t see it that way, and neither did most fans.
It looked like the 36-year-old Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) had lost a step from 13 months of inactivity, and throwing exclusively jabs.
Madrimov was landing the harder puncher in all 12 rounds, tagging Crawford repeatedly with right hands that would send sweat flying. Scoring the fight on my own, I had Madrimov winning 10-2.
Canelo vs. Crawford Not Happening
The problem with Bradley’s prediction is that there will not be a fight between Canelo and Crawford because the money isn’t there. Canelo has earned the right to ask for what he feels fights are worth, and he wants $150 million, which he deserves. However, His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has already given up on making the fight between Canelo and Crawford.
“I still think Crawford can get it done. Out of any other fighter in the game besides Bivol, I think Crawford is the only guy that can give Canelo problems. Still, even after seeing the Madrimov fight,” said Tim Bradley to K.O. Artist Sports about his view that he thinks Terence Crawford can potentially beat Canelo Alvarez.
Crawford’s Fear of Power
Whatever chance Crawford would have of winning a Mayweather-style decision against Canelo, he’d throw it out the window by fighting scared, moving around the ring to avoid getting hit. Once Crawford gets a taste of Canelo’s power, he’ll be on his bike, jabbing and making it boring like we saw against Madrimov.
“But the weight concerns me. Taking a punch from a big puncher like that, especially Canelo, who will land, has you second-guessing yourself because all it takes is one. However, someone as serious as Crawford, someone that is dedicated and has the skills that he has and the mentality that he brings in the ring and the tenacity, I give him a damn good chance of upsetting the apple cart,” said Bradley.
Crawford was bothered by Madrimov’s power last Saturday night, and you could see that he was afraid. With Canelo landing the same punches Madrimov did, Crawford wouldn’t last long before he’s stopped. If he didn’t get knocked out, he would be forced to run, and he won’t be given a controversial decision against Canelo like he did against Madrimov.
“He won’t be the favorite in the fight. Canelo will be. He is,” said Bradley when told that Turki Alalshikh criticized Canelo for taking “easy fights.”
Crawford won’t be the favorite unless Canelo looks poor against Edgar Berlanga on September 14th. If Canelo struggles against Berlanga or loses, the oddsmakers might make Crawford the favorite. Canelo would have to look really bad for the oddsmakers to install Crawford as the favorite because he looked poor himself against Israil Madrimov.
“Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis is a good fighter, but if Crawford fights him, I still think Crawford beats him. He might even knock him out, but I still think Crawford has goods to do what he needs to do to win that fight,” said Bradley.
Crawford probably will never fight Boots Ennis, so it’s immaterial whether he would or wouldn’t. Given Crawford’s performance against Madrimov, I would pick Ennis by knockout. If Crawford tries to fight Boots, he gets knocked out.
He’ll lose a decision if he runs, as he did in round 12 against Madrimov. Ennis is the better fighter at this point, and he’s a more talented fighter than Crawford ever was. I’ve watched all of Crawford’s fights since he turned pro, so that makes me an expert.
Crawford’s Unentertaining Past
Crawford was never entertaining during his career the way Boots Ennis was, and that’s why it took so long for him to become popular. He was boring to watch. Go back and look at Crawford’s early fights against Ricky Burns, Ray Beltran, and Viktor Postol, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. He was never entertaining like Ennis’ fights.
“Yeah, it was a little more challenging, but to me, Crawford dominated because he did what he needed to do,” said Bradley about Crawford’s win over WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov. “I expected Madrimov to be more aggressive. He was the bigger, stronger guy. He was the bully, but he was tamed because of Crawford.”
Crawford did not tame, but it’s understandable why Bradley would say that. He’s been carrying Crawford’s water for many years and has been a big fan of his. You wouldn’t expect him to change his support for him in his biggest fight.
Crawford ate right hands from Madrimov the entire fight, making it difficult to give him more than two rounds. The 11th round was Crawford’s best in the entire fight. Some fans feel he won the 12th, but after re-watching the fight, Crawford took too many hard right hands from Madrimov to win.
Madrimov Landed Better Shots
The punches Crawford landed in the 12th were much weaker than Madrimov’s. They looked like a 140-pounder hitting a middleweight. They had no effect on Madrimov, whereas the punches he landed snapped Crawford’s head back, sending sweat flying.
It didn’t look like Crawford tamed Madrimov. He was mostly jabbing him and getting hit with hard right hands that were snapping his head back round after round. In every round, Madrimov landed the harder, cleaner shots.
Crawford’s punches were basically all jabs, which makes it hard to score many rounds for him unless you’re scoring it by amateur boxing standards. The pro game is different obviously.
“I thought he looked great. Those last two rounds are what he needed to do from the start. Jump on him and throw those combinations because the dude [Madrimov] didn’t have anything for him when he threw his combinations,” said Bradley.
In re-watching the fight, Crawford didn’t combinations at all in round 11. It was all single punches from Crawford. Bradley is going by memory, is likely dim by now, but Crawford din;t throw combinations at all in the 11th.
In round 12, Crawford did throw some combinations, but he paid for it by getting hit with some massive shots by Madrimov. The round was hard to score because although Crawford landed more punches, Madrimov’s shots were much harder blows.
There was no comparison. Where Crawford arguably gave away the round is when he got on his bike in the last five seconds and ran from Madrimov rather than standing and fighting.
That wasn’t a good look on Crawford’s part to run like that. Bradley likely has a positive spin to explain why Crawford did that, but it didn’t look good for him to do that in the final round after getting hit hard many times by Madrimov.
If this had been the Canelo that Crawford was fighting, he would have lost the 12th round due to that move.
