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Crawford Wins Fourth Title
With Victory Over Madrimov
By William Trillo
Photos: German Villasenor
Terence “Bud” Crawford (41-0, 31 KO’s) won his fourth
title in as many divisions when he dethroned Israil
Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KO’s) and took his WBA World Super
Welterweight & WBO Interim World Super Welterweight
belts. This was no walk in the park for Crawford, the
highly skilled Madrimov gave “Bud” everything he could
and more.
This fight was very close. Don’t let the fact that
Crawford won by unanimous decision fool you. If the
judges scored just one round the opposite way, we would
have been looking at a Majority decision draw. That’s
how close this was.
Crawford, who can fight from either side, switched to
Southpaw almost immediately as the fight began in an
effort to nullify Madrimov’s piston-like jab. From that
point on, both fighters were patient as they looked to
counterpunch and capitalize on their foe’s mistakes. It
seemed a bit slow at first, but as the fight ensued it
became a very intriguing battle.
To his credit, Madrimov is the first fighter to go the
distance with Crawford since 2016.
“He was a tough competitor,” said Crawford after the
fight, “He, (Madrimov), is a durable and disciplined
fighter. He fought a good fight.”
Madrimov stated, “I fought the best Pound4Pound fighter
in the world and I think I did enough to win. I felt I
was in control of how the fight was going. I deserve a
rematch.”
Although the final scores were close, 116-112, 115-113
and 115-113, promoter Eddie Hearn exclaimed, “The scores
were a waste of time. Madrimov got zero respect from the
judges!”
No question, the fight was close, but it was Crawford
who prevailed and now the topic will be whether or not
this victory puts him at the top of the list for the
coveted Canelo sweepstakes.
Conventional wisdom told boxing fans that Isaac Cruz
(26-3-1, 18 KO’s) would leave the ring in Los Angeles
with his WBA World Super Lightweight belt fastened
firmly around his waist. But Jose Valenzuela (14-2, 9
KO’s) had other plans on his mind.
Boxing the fight of his life, Valenzuela put on a
brilliant performance against Cruz. Boxing, sticking and
moving, Valenzuela painted a masterpiece against a very
dangerous opponent. Cruz was rugged and game and was
landing power shots at times, but it just wasn’t enough
to effectively disrupt a picture perfect gameplan by
Valenzuela.
Boxing almost exclusively in the middle of the ring, “El
Rayo” nullified everything we have come to know about
“Pit Bull” and his come forward hard punching style. For
the record, the fight was scored a Split Decision with
Cruz getting the nod on one card 115-113 while the other
two judges had identical scores in favor of Valenzuela,
116-112.
Heavyweight Andy Ruiz (35-2-1, 22 KO’s) put some early
rounds in the bank but then he gassed out. Jarrell
Miller (26-1-2, 22 KO’s) seemed to come on and control
the mid-rounds as Ruiz appeared to be running on empty
(26-1-2, 22 KO’s).
Going into the championship rounds this one appeared to
be Miller’s for the taking. But Ruiz hit the reserve
tank and was able to get himself back into the fight as
the fight came to its conclusion.
The fight went to the judges' scorecards and as many
expected, this fight ended up a Draw. Scores read
116-112 for Miller while the other two cards came up at
114-114, a Majority Decision Draw. During the post-fight
interviews Ruiz revealed a very ugly and broken hand
that he said he injured early in the fight.
Jared Anderson (17-1, 15 KO’s) hit Martin Bakole (21-1,
16 KO’s) with numerous body shots in round one but the
big man from The Congo was unaffected, and then at the
2:55 mark of the first round, Bakole put Anderson down
for the first time in his career. Anderson would get up
and fight on, but there was no way he could handle the
size and power of Bakole.
Going down two more times, Anderson found out why Bakole
is one of the most avoided heavyweights in boxing. By
the fifth round the ref had seen enough and saved
Anderson from further punishment at the 2:07 mark. This
would be the first loss of Anderson’s career. Martin
Bakole is “The Goods”, make no mistake about that.
If David Morrell (11-0, 9 KO’s) was looking to make his
debut at 175 pounds a spectacular one, he might have
fallen short. His opponent Radivoje Kalajdzic (29-3, 21
KO’s) posed much more of a problem than Morrell might
have expected, and with that, the fight went the
distance in a hard-fought battle.
Morrell prevailed in the end as judges gave him a
unanimous decision, 118-111 and 117-111 x 2. With the
nod Morrell took home the vacant WBA World Light
Heavyweight belt.
Andy Cruz (4-0, 2 KO) looked on his game with the KO
victory over Antonio Moran (30-7-1, 21 KO’s) in this
scrap for the IBF International Lightweight. Moran was
tough and even hurt Cruz in the fifth, but once Cruz put
his foot on the gas, this fight was over. The KO came in
the seventh round.
In a ten scheduled ten round affair, Steven Nelson
(20-0-0, 16 KO’s) KO’d Marcos Vazquez Rodriguez (20-1-1,
10 KO’s). The undefeated Super Middleweight closed the
show at the mid-point of the battle.
Welterweights Ziyad Almaayouf (5-0-1, 1 KO) and Michal
Bulik (6-7-1, 2 KO’s) opened the show with a Majority
Decision Draw. One judge scored the fight in favor of
Almaayouf 59-55 but the other two judges saw it even at
57-57.
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