Terence Crawford says WBC/WBO Junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora was originally intended to fight him, not WBA 154-lb champion Israel Madrimov.
Crawford says that someone at Fundora's work decided that Errol Spence should be the one to fight next, not him. So, they decided to go that route, needing to find another champion in 154.
Crawford Expresses Bitterness
Although Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) says he's not mad at Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) for changing his mind about fighting him, he seems bitter about it because this is the guy he wanted.
Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) is a very good champion, but he is less known in the US than Fundora. Crawford's fight against Madrimov on August 3 will have only one title, instead of two if he fought the 'Towering Inferno' night.
Fundora is coming off a major upset of WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu on March 30 in Las Vegas, a bout that received a lot of attention on Prime Video PPV at T-Mobile Arena.
Crawford would have gotten more publicity fighting the 6'6″ Fundora than he did against Madrimov, who speaks heavily in translation and breaks his English. Madrimov's biggest mouthpiece has been his promoter, Eddie Hearn, who has made an effort to talk about his chances against Crawford.
Hearn hasn't been as outspoken in promoting Madrimov as he has been with Anthony Joshua.
“We wanted to go straight into being the champion, because we wanted to go into Fundora,” said Terence Crawford on YouTube channel All The Smoke when asked why he chose to fight WBA junior middleweight champion Israel Madrimov in his next fight on August 3.
“He's the one we were going to try to fight with but he said he couldn't fight this year, we wanted a fight this year. So, we had to go to the next best option, which is Israel,” Crawford said.
It must upset Crawford that Fundora's nose injury has healed, and he chose to fight Spence over him. On Fundora's side, Spence has historically been a bigger draw than Crawford and one that has done more successful PPV events.
Before Crawford fought Spence last year, his previous PPV efforts had bombed against Viktor Postol and Amir Khan. It's a better fight for Fundora against Spence than Crawford because he has more chances to win.
If Crawford had been in the same boat as Fundora and there was someone he didn't trust to hit him, he probably would have done the same. An example of that is Crawford choosing not to fight Jaron 'Boots' Ennis, even though that matchup will pay off more than his clash with Madrimov.
“Fundora can't say who he wanted to fight when he chose Spence and gave up his WBO title. “If you want to fight the best, you're going to fight Terence Crawford because Terence Crawford beat this guy who says he wants to beat him,” said Terence.
Fundora's Verdict: Business Mobility
Crawford needs to realize that fighters like Fundora and anyone make decisions based on what's in their best business interests. They won't be fighting an unproven fighter who has only participated in one successful PPV event in his career.
There is a risk of losing to Crawford and the fight not doing good numbers because he has not been shown to be balanced except when he fought Spence.
“You can say that financially, Errol Spence might bring in more money. He doesn't really know that,” Crawford said of Fundora. “He didn't have a meeting with us and he said, 'This is what I want.' He did not have a meeting with my superiors and said. There is nothing.”
Fundora executives probably looked at Crawford's past PPV and attendance numbers before he fought Spence and concluded that he wasn't worth the risk financially. Spence has been a more popular fighter throughout his career than Crawford, and may still be more popular.
“It was his superiors. I don't know if he is his father. They were just like, 'Nah, we're not worried about Terence. We're not fighting Terence.' I just think it's politics. Politics play a big role in boxing, and I think anyone who owns theirs [Fundora] our job, we know it's a business,” Crawford said, explaining why Fundora is leading the fight against Spence instead.
Fundora's management made the same decision that anyone in a similar situation would make if they were to choose the most proven asset, Spence and Crawford.
“I'm not mad at him, and I'm not mad at Spence. I wish Spence the best of luck in that fight. It's going to be a tough fight, I hope he comes out on top,” said Crawford.
Terence says he's not mad, but he seems hurt at being outdone by Fundora. He should be happy that His Excellency Turki Alalshikh chose him for this event over someone else. It's a battle Crawford can win.
If Honor wanted to give him some tough love, he would have told him, 'You have to fight Boot Ennis, David Morrell, or David Benavidez to get a Canelo Alvarez parachute payday. Pick your poison.'
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