No, Terence Crawford Didn’t Look Bad…and Israil Madrimov Didn’t Look Good

In the wake of Saturday’s Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov bout at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, online buzz hasn’t been all that favorable to Crawford.

Actually, the word spread in some corners is that Crawford looked downright bad. Some are even saying that he deserved a draw, at best.

Well, those are terrible takes, mostly pumped out there by people who generally have terrible takes.

The truth of the matter is that, really, there was no way Crawford was going to look all that good against a guy like Madrimov, fighting as Madrimov did.

The Uzbek employed a beyond-awkward, herky-jerky style that resembled perpetual feinting. It actually was amazing that Crawford landed as cleanly, as frequently as he did. The off-putting ring approach was tough to decipher, especially for someone like Crawford who was moving up in weight and dealing with someone who did pose a legitimate threat.

The one thing that nobody talks about, however, is Madrimov’s mindset behind the awkward ring work.

The guy really didn’t come to win that night.

Whaaaaat?

The 29-year-old Madrimov never really opened himself up and was never willing to expose himself to what may have been incoming should he make a sustained offensive push. Much of what he employed on Saturday was merely to negate Crawford and keep himself close enough to reach a face-saving decision. Maybe things didn’t start out that way, but they definitely took that form very early in the contest.

Obviously, we don’t know what was in the heart or mind of Madrimov, but a look at his past performances shows a difference in the way he worked this Crawford fight. He’s always employed that herky-jerky style, but never to this degree and much of the aggressive stalking he’s used in the past was gone on Saturday. Of course, Terence Crawford is infinitely better than anyone Madrimov’s faced, but there was a clear change in Madrimov’s mindset that goes beyond the simple “Crawford was better than past opponents” justification of a lesser Madrimov.

Punch stats also help tell the tale of someone aiming to merely be competitive.

Madrimov landed 84 of 275 punches, compared to Crawford’s 95 of 433. That’s minuscule output for someone not generally regarded as a boxer/mover.

By comparison, the frequently-maligned Shakur Stevenson, who is pegged as a boring, negative fighter, landed 170 of 446 punches versus Artem Harutyunyan in his last fight. Even in his wildly-derided sleep-inducing performance against Edwin De Los Santos, he put up comparable output numbers (65 of 209) to Madrimov’s.

Granted, again, level of opposition matters. Competing against Crawford is way different than competing against Harutyunyan and De Los Santos. But Crawford wasn’t on his bike, making himself hard to touch. For the most part, he was right there in front of Madrimov, looking to counter shots that just weren’t coming– because Madrimov wasn’t really letting his hands go.

There’s only so much you can do against a skilled opponent content to play it safe, not really fighting to win as much as fighting not to lose. Crawford did about as well as could be expected.

Sometimes, the lack of boxing acumen in boxing media– new and old– is jarring. Their willingness to run with narratives that fly in the face of what they’re actually seeing is embarrassing.

In this particular case, the narrative centered around Madrimov keeping it close against a pound-for-pound great and that pound-for-pound great, perhaps, maxing out at his new, larger weight class.

Is he too old? Is he too small? Is Madrimov better than anyone thought?

Those were the questions posed by media and, subsequently, given flight by fans. And they totally obscured the realities of the contest playing out before them.

The native of Uzbekistan, who now fights out of Indio, California, got every benefit of every doubt from a media that has generally become enamored with fighters coming from former Soviet Bloc countries. That favoritism takes shape in any number of double standards benefiting fighters of that background, who are automatically painted as braver, less shiftless, harder-working, and more honorable warriors than their American counterparts. Their exploits are sang to the world with a much louder voice.

One only need look at the way Madrimov’s performance has been portrayed and celebrated as a star-making effort compared to other fighters who are panned for similar or even more spirited performances.

So, no, Crawford’s outing versus Madrimov was not a negative. It was simply a tough stylistic task.

And Madrimov, who is, indeed, quite good, fought like someone who knew he was a full step beneath his opposition that night.