Terence Crawford won a world title in a fourth weight class on Saturday with a unanimous decision victory over Israil Madrimov.
On two of the judge’s scorecards, one round separated the two men, and it appeared Madrimov gave Crawford one of–if not the most brutal fights of his career. When Crawford was asked if Madrimov had brought him his toughest fight, the future Hall-of-Famer quickly dismissed the idea.
“I wouldn’t say it was my toughest fight,” Crawford said. “I think Mean Machine [Egidijus Kavaliauskas] was a tougher fight than that. I think Gamboa [Yuriorkis] was a tougher fight, I think [Jose] Benavidez was a tougher fight. I may have got the knockout, but they were tough fights in their own right.”
Crawford defeated Kavaliauskas via ninth-round TKO in a rough-and-tumble affair. Kavaliauskas has just two losses in his pro career, both to undefeated fighters.
The first was to Crawford in 2019, and the other came against Vergil Ortiz Jr. in 2021.
Crawford stopped Gamboa in June 2014 in an all-action fight. The win was Crawford’s first defense of his WBO lightweight title and one of Bud’s first truly spectacular performances.
In an epic grudge match that featured a legitimate punch being thrown during one of the press conferences, Crawford scored a thrilling 12th-round KO win over Jose Benavidez Jr. in an all-out war.
Why does Crawford not consider the Madrimov fight his toughest despite winning by the smallest margin of his career?
No opponent has ever come within a round of winning a fight or drawing with Crawford on any judge’s scorecard.
“I was touching him up with the jab,” Crawford said. “I think my jab was beating him up all through the fight. He landed a couple of right hands that were telling for the judges or the fans, but it was nothing that I had never seen before.”
You can watch the entire post-fight presser in the video from Fight Hub below.
As a spectator and someone who has seen every Crawford fight since 2013, I would say the Madrimov fight was his toughest.
While the Kavaliauskas fight had some tense moments, there was never a second where I questioned if Bud was in control. Crawford earned and deserved the victory over Madrimov, but there were some moments when I wondered if this was the night we see the all-time great take his first loss.
The fight’s difficulty level had nothing to do with Crawford showing any signs of slippage; it was more about Madrimov’s skill and game plan.
The Uzbekistan fighter might be the second best 154-pound fighter in the world, and depending on his opponent, we could get some answers to that question in his next fight.