Terence Crawford wins world title in fourth division, is Canelo next?

Terence “Bud” Crawford won a world title in his fourth weight class, beating Israil Madrimov to capture the WBA super welterweight title on Saturday night in Los Angeles.

It was the closest call of Crawford’s career, though, with judges scoring the fight 115-113, 115-113, and 116-112.

Bad Left Hook unofficially scored the fight 116-112 and 117-111 for Crawford, who had previously won a world title at 135 lbs, as well as going undisputed at both 140 and 147.

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Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KO) showed he absolutely can hang against a top name in the sport, but probably fell short with the judges simply on output and effective aggression, though he landed quite a few solid right hands to Crawford’s head.

Crawford (41-0, 31 KO) did some nasty body work in the fight, but did struggle with the upper body movement and feinting of Madrimov, who was able to prevent Crawford from ever hitting his trademark rhythm, the level of momentum that usually leads to him stopping opponents.

Madrimov was never in any real danger of being stopped, and the same is true of Crawford.

“Israil was a tough competitor. I knew all about him. He’s real strong, he’s durable, he took a lot of good shots, and he got through round 12,” Crawford said. “He had fast feet, he had rhythm upstairs, and he was strong. He was very disciplined, he wasn’t coming in throwing wild shots. He fought a good fight.”

“You can feel the difference. Israil’s a real strong opponent. For us to fight a guy of his caliber in our first fight (at 154) says a lot about me and my team.”

“If the money’s right, you got a fight. But he’s got a fight that he’s focused on, I’m gonna go back to my family and enjoy this win.”

Crawford said he had no doubts about fighting Canelo at 168, calling the matchup “another milestone to greatness, and financially-wise.”

Madrimov said he would like a rematch, which is frankly very unlikely. “I felt that I was pretty much controlling everything, that I did enough.”