Terence Crawford, One Year Later: Boxing, Business, and Madrimov

Terence Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) finally got his legacy-defining win a year ago when he dominated 3-belt welterweight champ Errol Spence en route to a ninth-round TKO.

Crawford proving his greatness was not all that much of a shocker, but the way he did it WAS.

Crawford-Spence was thought to be a 50-50 fight by most. That proved to absolutely not be the case as the Omaha, Nebraska native, who brought the WBO title to the highly-anticipated welterweight unification clash, sized up, nullified, and then broke down the IBF/WBA/WBC champ.

The new unified champ let loose after the win, releasing his pent-up frustration from years of what he saw as disrespect and targeted avoidance that kept him from the major, legacy-defining fights he had been craving.

Greatness Confirmed

“I’ve been telling each and every one of you for years,” Crawford told the assembled media after his crushing of Spence.

“A lot of ya’ll over here looking sad…

“But, all in all, I get to say I told ya’ll, because I’ve been asking for these fights for years and ya’ll been saying ‘he’s too small, he’s gonna get this, he’s gonna get broken’.

“And each and every time I step up I prove ya’ll wrong.”

A media tour followed the big win and Crawford, who had worked his way from being an afterthought on Top Rank undercards into someone many regarded as the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, was finally getting the recognition he deserved.

But less than a month into the Terence Crawford era, it became evident that the new king had no intention of uplifting his kingdom. As a matter of fact, the new monarch was set to do everything he had railed against as a contender to the throne.

Bud Crawford’s Cynical Heel Turn

“Listen, right now in my career, a lotta people like, ‘Boots this, Boots that, Boots this,’” Crawford said in an August appearance on ‘The Breakfast Club,’ in reference to taking on consensus no. 1 welterweight contender, Jaron “Boots” Ennis.

“You know, fightin’ Boots is a lose-lose situation…It’s not a mega-fight. It’s gonna sell a little bit because of [my] name, what [I] just accomplished, but..there’s nothing really at stake with fightin’ Boots. You know, I’m at the tail end of my career. I’m trying to make things make sense…Definitely, a hundred percent about the money…Not takin’ anything away from Boots, but you know, where I am at in my career right now, I done fought my ass off to get to where I am. And I deserve to do whatever the f**k I wanna do. And I don’t care what nobody say, how anybody feels or any of that. You know, f**k ‘em.”

In essence, “Bud” was going to do everything that he felt had been done to him. He was going to play the same risk vs. reward game to his benefit, and he didn’t care what anyone thought of it.

That mercenary mindset didn’t work out out so well, at least when it came to getting actual fights.

The end result was a year of inactivity– at 36 years of age and at a time in his career when he could not afford a long layoff.

That layoff ends this Saturday, August 3 at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles atop a Saudi Riyadh Season card.

The Return

Facing 29-year-old WBA junior middleweight titlist Israil Madrimov, Crawford, who will be 37 at the end of September, will be trying for his fourth divisional title. And while the bout isn’t a “big” one like he wants, it’s surely a well-paid gig as a recently-appointed “Global Ambassador” for the Saudis.

Aiding Crawford in his pursuit of money fights is Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, who has become a major fan of the undefeated fighter.

“Crawford, one of the greatest boxers of all time, never got the recognition he deserves,” Alalshikh recently wrote on Twitter/X. “If he were elsewhere, he’d have a statue by now and be taught in textbooks. Unfortunately, I showed up late in his career, but I will do my best to secure big fights for him and his legacy!”

But the only big fight that seems to be on Crawford’s mind is one against super middleweight champ Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, two full divisions above the 154 mark, which he’ll be testing for the first time on Saturday.

The Mexican superstar has already ruled out a Crawford fight as a lose-lose proposition for him, but the buzz continues and the desire from Crawford and his team remains.

“I will give Canelo what I think is a fair price,” Alalshikh told ESPN. “If he accepts it, he deals directly with me to finish the deal. I don’t want anyone in the middle. I guaranteed Crawford a big fight, I want Canelo for Crawford and Crawford wants Canelo. But if Canelo is crazy [with his financial demands] I will still guarantee Crawford any fight he wants.”

The Task at Hand

In the meantime, Crawford will take on Madrimov as, really, a high-grade stay-busy fight while bigger things are being set up.

His Uzbek opponent is clearly skilled and has a stellar amateur pedigree, but he has a modest 10-0-1 professional record and, more importantly, a thin resume, absent of any real world class names of note.

On paper, Crawford should win decisively. Betting odds place him as a -700 favorite.

From there, it’s anyone’s guess as to what the future holds for Crawford.

Focused on “big” fights in a weight range where the big fights don’t particularly seem to his liking, the pound-for-pound champion may have to operate under Saudi sponsorship as he did when he was signed to Top Rank/ESPN. That means as-big-as-possible paydays against a string of “best available” opposition, but, maybe, not the fight he wants the most.