Terence Crawford returns to the ring Saturday for a Riyadh Season-sponsored pay-per-view fight against super welterweight world boxing champion Israil Madrimov, and the American is already saying that the bout this weekend seems bigger than his landmark victory over long-time rival Errol Spence Jr. last year.
The undisputed welterweight world championship fight in Las Vegas was approximately five years in the making, and brought together two of the best-skilled boxers on the planet, in one of the most significant match-ups the sport had organized since Floyd Mayweather bested Manny Pacquiao in 2015.
In 2023, Crawford showed that he is levels apart from Spence — himself an extraordinary champion at 147 pounds — as Crawford bullied and beat Spence down in a brutal display of controlled, fistic violence. It generated $21 million in ticket sales, and sold to 700,000 homes in the US. The fight against Madrimov at the BMO Stadium, though, is even bigger, according to Crawford.
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The Crawford vs Madrimov result could dictate the future of elite boxing. Should Madrimov win, he’ll have struck one of boxing’s biggest modern day upsets against arguably the No.1 fighter in the entire sport. The world would be his oyster. Should Crawford, win, though, and he’ll put himself back into the spotlight for an unlikely shot at the super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
The moment may not be lost on Crawford himself, who spoke to DAZN during Tuesday’s Grand Arrivals on Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles County.
“To be honest, this feels bigger than the Errol Spence fight,” said Crawford.
“If you look around, it’s different. Errol Spence fight was big for the urban community, because it’s been something talked about for five years. Me and Errol, me and Errol. But, when you look around, you see so many different different races and cultures that it’s bigger in its own right.”
“How do you compare this(fight with Madrimov) to the Errol Spence fight?”
Terence Crawford: “To be honest, this feels bigger than the Errol Spence fight. Errol Spence fight was big for the urban community. When you look around(here) you see so many different races and cultures… pic.twitter.com/Mi7s8Xmkov
— Danny (@dantheboxingman) July 31, 2024
Here’s the eight-fight bout card, in full:
- Terence Crawford vs Israil Madrimov — super welterweight
- David Morrell vs Radivoje Kalajdzic — light heavyweight
- Isaac Cruz vs Jose Valenzuela — super lightweight
- Andy Cruz vs Antonio Moran — lightweight
- Steven Nelson vs Marcos Vazquez Rodriguez — super middleweight
- Ziyad Almaayouf vs Michal Bulik — welterweight
- Jared Anderson vs Martin Bakole — heavyweight
- Andy Ruiz vs Jarrell Miller — heavyweight
The event also features a live musical performance from smash hit rap star Eminem, who walked Crawford to the ring for his showdown with Spence.
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