Crawford's Age and Weight Skipping Could Spell Disaster Against Madrimov

Israel Madrimov's trainer, Joel Diaz, believes that the combination of Terence Crawford's age, 37, and weight increase to 154 will have a negative impact on his performance this Saturday night when he challenges Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) for his title. WBA junior middleweight at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.

Preparing For Wrestling For Crawford

Diaz feels Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) is pushing his luck against Madrimov, who is rehydrating in the mid-170s and is strong at that weight. The 5’8″ Madrimov is huge with his strong build and strength, better suited to the 168-lb division than the 154.

Joel says that Madrimov has been working with wrestlers in this camp, which is smart for him. A large part of Crawford's game is built on holding his opponents in a clinic to tire them out and sneak shots into point blank range.

If that is taken away from Crawford, he will have little to do in this fight because he is already in trouble in the department of strength, youth and size.

“Israel is ready for everything Crawford brings. We touched on many of the strong points that Terence Crawford had in the fight,” said coach Joel Diaz speaking to Probox TV about his striker Israel Madrimov, who trained on what Terence Crawford does best before their fight this Saturday, August 3.

Crawford's mobility has slowed down with age, and he often uses his jab, pot shots, and sprints to win his fights.

He likes to back off the ropes to support his tired legs and land short punches inside. He left this style well against Errol Spence, David Avanesyan, and Shawn Porter for obvious reasons. Those boys are getting too old.

“Crawford has never fought in this weight class [154]. He is a former lightweight on the rise,” said boxing expert Paulie Malignaggi.

Crawford's split with 40-year-old Andre Ward is almost meaningless to him because it won't help him get used to fighting a 154-pounder like Israel Madrimov, who will be a strong 175-pounder on the night. Ward hasn't fought in years, and it looks like he's been playing Elvis' paunch.

Crawford's Age and Declining Skills

“You know what age does. We're getting older, and obviously he's not the same,” said coach Diaz about the 37-year-old Crawford not being the same fighter because of his age.

All you need to do is look at some old footage of Crawford's fight with Jeff Horn from 2018 and compare it to his last fight against Errol Spence Jr. July 2023 so you know Terence is not the same fighter. He is not Benjamin Button, who is aging backwards, and has never found the fountain of youth to drink from its rejuvenating waters.

“Crawford hasn't had many fights yet, but every fight has training [camp], and the whole camp is getting old. He is 37 years old. There are many things that give me hope about training and the boxing program we have. You're going to 154.”

It doesn't matter that Crawford hasn't had many fights because of his lack of coordination because he is still a 37-year-old fighter and has been punished during his camps.

Even outside of the fights, the man approaching 40 is a visible remnant of sports. Boxing is a young man's sport, and it gets worse when a fighter takes a year off after each fight like Crawford did.

“He was good at 135, 140 and 147. He's in a different weight class, 154. Madrimov is a solid 154. He's walking around 175, 175 solid. We'll see how Crawford's punches land [the bigger, stronger, and younger 29-year-old] Israil Madrimov,” said Diaz.

Diaz fails to mention the opposition Crawford has fought at 135, 140, and 147, mostly a rag-tag bunch of shot-to-piece fighters heading into the final round.

The Questionable Quality of Crawford's Classical Objections

Errol Spence
Shawn Porter
Jeff Horn
Kell Brook
Ricky Burns
Yuriorkis Gamboa
Viktor Postol

Six of those seven fighters were very old and past their prime when Crawford fought them. That's why it's hard to take much from Crawford's previous 40 wins on his resume, as never fight any elite or A-level competition.

Saturday will be Crawford's first time in the ring with a top talent, which could be bad for him.

“You see Canelo go up to 175 to fight Dmitry Bivol, and you see what happened. [Canelo’s power didn’t carry up, and he was too small to compete],” said Diaz.

Canelo's strength didn't move him from 168 to 175, and he looked like he wouldn't be in the same ring as WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol in their fight in 2022.

The same could happen to Crawford, who is less athletic than Canelo and fights a bigger boxer, Madrimov. It can be an eye-opening experience for Crawford, showing that he has come a long way without looking at the enemy.

“He works with the fighters,” Diaz said of Madrimov's work with the wrestlers and jiu-jitsu fighters at the camp. This can be useful against Crawford because he likes to play tricks.

If Madrimov can take away Crawford's grappling ability it will force him to focus on his other more boxing related tools. Crawford doesn't have the ability to get in the trenches and slug with Madrimov because he has the same power as GGG, and it can be very dangerous for a fighter who rarely fights and pushes 40 going into the fight.

Crawford's age and lack of movement over the last four years could cost him if he fights Madrimov the way he did against his three previous opponents, Errol Spence, David Avanesyan and Shawn Porter.

They were all older fighters who had nothing left in their games when they fought Crawford, and he took advantage of their withered skills to win knockouts.