Israil Madrimov Willing to Rematch with Terence Crawford

Promising to make adjustments for his return, Israil Madrimov is eager to get another shot against Terence Crawford to win back the WBA junior middleweight belt that was snatched from him by a split decision on August 3rd. According to the judges, the scores cast were 115-112, 116-112 lastly, and 115-112 thus implying the closeness of the fight.

In their fight, although Madrimov, 29, landed the cleaner, and harder punches throughout the fight, it was Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), who won the night. But, looking at the statistics, one has to agree that Crawford’s dominance was mostly due to his jabbing, which was the only main attack he used in the entire fight.

Israil Madrimov’s Discontent

The decision frustrated him hence his desire to fight and win back the title. However, there may be some challenges to a rematch against Crawford, 36, as it seems that Crawford’s attention is riveted on a possible fight with Canelo Alvarez at 168lbs. Crawford’s future in the ring might also depend on the big names like Turki Alalshikh, as Crawford stated that, if no big names are available for the fight, he might decide to retire, he said;

I was a world champion, and I deserved to be a world champion after August 3; now, my main goal is to regain that status, said Madrimov.

His desire to regain the title underscores his frustration with the decision. However, Israil Madrimov may face obstacles in securing a rematch with Crawford. Crawford’s future in the ring may also depend on lucrative offers from influential figures like Turki Alalshikh, as Crawford might otherwise consider retirement if high-profile fights don’t materialize.

Fight Card’s Performance

The fight between Crawford and Israil Madrimov was fought on August 3rd and reportedly did not sell well on DAZN of PPV. There were also many empty seats noticed. The weakness that is inherent in situations such as these is exemplified by the fact that Crawford, for example, needs a bigger name to help sell the fight, he stated that

I said after the fight that I thought I did enough to keep my World Championship Belt, said the 29-year-old Uzbek native.  Right now, I’m ready for a rematch with Crawford to regain my title or to challenge any of the other junior middleweight champions.

Future Prospects

Israil Madrimov is open to the rematch, but he is unsure of Crawford’s desire to get into the ring again. It has to be noted that fans may not see Crawford back in the ring anytime soon since he suffered a lot of damage at the hands of him. Israil Madrimov might have to test his luck against other contenders such as Sebastian Fundora or Bakhram Murtazaliev to try to grab the junior middleweight title again. For Crawford, attention from Turki Alalshikh may be essential, especially if those concerns include desirable clashes against such an opponent as Jaron Ennis, David Benavidez, Artur Beterbiev, or Dmitry Bivol. Crawford may not be sustainable when he is paid a hefty sum to fight defensively and use only jabs, thus, for Turki to place Crawford in a more favorable and dangerous match-up, he has to guarantee him a big purse.