Eddie Hearn says he’ll let Israil Madrimov “off the leash” on Saturday night to go after Terence Crawford and tear him to pieces at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
(Photo credit: Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)’
Madrimov’s Power Poses a Threat to Crawford
Hearn doesn’t know how well Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) will hold up under the power shots from the biggest puncher at 154, but we’ll find out when he makes his debut in the headliner live on DAZN PPV.
If Crawford’s chin can’t hold up to the Uzebek power at 154, Hearn doubts he’ll stay around for long because he’ll be getting hit a lot in this fight.
Crawford was hit a bit in his last fight against Errol Spence a year ago, in July 2023, but he isn’t the puncher that Madrimov is. Spence didn’t look his best in that fight and was knocked out in the ninth round.
It won’t be the end of the world for Crawford if he loses to Madrimov because he can move back down to 147 or stay at 154 and target the other champions. He’d still be popular enough to pick and choose whoever he wanted to fight, and that match would happen.
The real downside of Crawford losing to Madrimov is that he would likely lose out on the Canelo Alvarez fight unless His Excellency Turki Alalshkih wanted to make that fight still.
“You have to have a horse in the race to win that race, and that’s Israil Madrimov,” said Eddie Hearn to the media about his fighter, WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov, who puts his title on the line against the experienced Terence Crawford on Saturday night.
“If he were a guy who wasn’t a huge puncher, if he didn’t have great footwork, if he wasn’t really smart and had a great string IQ, if he wasn’t teak tough with a granite chin, yeah, I’d be concerned.”
The power that Madrimov has gives him a chance in this fight because all he needs to do is land on Crawford, and he’s got a chance of winning.
“I’m really excited for this fight because you can let the kid [Madrimov] off the leash. ‘Go on then.’ Since he turned pro and they’ve been with us, they wanted to fight for a world title in their third fight.
“We couldn’t get anybody to fight him because he was knocking everybody out, and everybody knew in the gyms how good he was. I never expected the jump to be Terence Crawford, but it’s here,” said Hearn.
Hopefully, Madrimov will be able to find guys at 154 that will be willing to fight him after Saturday night because he wont become a star without facing big names.
“I do think he punches harder than Terence Crawford,” said Hearn when asked if there’s anything that he believes Madrimov does better than Crawford. “Chin at 154? I guess we’ll find out on Saturday because he’s going to land on Terence Crawford. ”
It’s pretty obvious that Madrimov punches harder than Crawford. The Nebraska native might not want to admit it, but Madrimov is clearly a harder puncher.
Crawford’s Superstar Potential
“What I said up there. He [Crawford] should be an American superstar because look at how he lives his life. He’s a proper gentleman,” said Hearn.
It takes more than Crawford living a clean life for him to become a superstar in the U.S. You have to possess these elements to become a star in America:
- An entertaining fighting style
- Fight frequently,
- Possess charisma
- A strong social media presence
Crawford doesn’t have any of those things going for him, so he’s about to turn 37 and isn’t a star. He’s paid well, but he’s not a star.
