Terence Crawford improved upon his phenomenal legacy on Saturday night, picking up a world title in a fourth weight-division with a competitive unanimous decision win against WBA 154lb title-holder Israil Madrimov. Just days after the contest, news has broken of how much weight Crawford was able to add on between the weigh-in and the fight – leaving fans amazed at the American’s rehydrated weight.
‘Bud’ first became a world champion down at lightweight in 2014 when he travelled to Glasgow and outpointed Scotland’s Ricky Burns in his own backyard. In the decade since, Crawford has exclusively fought in a further 18 consecutive world title contests, progressing through the weight-classes and now reigning as a super-welterweight champion.
Before the fight commenced, those who respected the ability of Madrimov argued that the Uzbek could prove to be too big for Crawford, with the 2017 Asian Championship gold medallist being one of the larger framed men in the super-welterweight scene. This division was already perceived as being unnatural for the skilful Crawford, but it was expected that his talent would overcome those physical disadvantages.
Madrimov proved to be one of, if not the, most arduous mental tests of Crawford’s long career, but the California State Athletic Commission has quashed any theories that the then WBA champion’s weight played a part in this, instead revealing that ‘Bud’ was heavier than his dance partner on the night, as per iFL TV.
In response, boxing fans around the globe shared their amazement at the figures on social media, with some labelling Crawford as a ‘weight bully’ and others believing that these numbers leave the switch-hitting technician with no excuses for not advancing to 160lbs or even 168lbs in the future.
“Terence Crawford weighed more than Madrimov and couldn’t even hurt him. He kept saying Madrimov is massive when he was bigger. Crawford has been found out.”
“Crawford being damn near 170lbs is crazy.”
“Damn didn’t expect Crawford to be heavier.”
“I don’t believe it man, Madrimov looked obviously bigger.”
“Bud is a weight bully now that I see it.”
“He’d be a fully-fledged middleweight because 169 is a full hydrated middleweight.”
“A fight with Canelo doesn’t sound like too big of a jump now.”
Despite these comments, Crawford will likely struggle to properly pile on further pounds in the future given his age. Meanwhile, Canelo Alvarez was suspected to be rehydrating to around 175lbs when he was at super-welterweight, meaning he is likely fighting around the 180lb mark at a minimum whilst campaigning at super-middleweight.
Consequently, the jump between Crawford’s natural fighting weight and a clash with Canelo appears to be too much and struggles against Israil Madrimov only add to suspicions that Canelo-Crawford would be a one-sided affair.
Saudi catalyst Turki Al-Alshikh has also appeared to agree with this opinion, disregarding the chances of witnessing the fantasy fight after witnessing the Madrimov bout, in spite of the fact that he has been lobbying for the blockbuster event for the last twelve months.
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