Terence Crawford vs. Israel Madrimov will be featured on ESPN+ PPV next month on August 3, with a stacked undercard from top to bottom at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California.
Crawford hasn't fought at 154, and he's been pretty light during his 16-year career, fighting a bunch of old, toothless lions who don't have much left by the time he gets to the feast. Madrimov is a different story, a strong guy, young and at the top of his game at 29.
The Canelo Blueprint: Prove Your Worth
This is the fight Crawford had to prove himself worthy of for a mega-payday against Canelo Alvarez. Honorable should make it difficult for Crawford to get that fight by insisting that he work with these three to earn Canelo's big bucks:
- David Morrell
- David Benavidez
- Christian Mbili
That would be the traditional American way: finding something valuable by working your skin to the bone and reaping the rewards when you succeed.
If you fail, there's always a bargaining chip to fight the little guys, though not the millions you were hoping to snag for that golden retirement parachute. To find something that means something, Crawford must take on a big challenge.
Is it asking too much for Crawford to beat Morrell, Benavidez, and Milli to get that Canelo award? I want to know. Just walk the plank, Crawford, over the den of cobras, and when you get to the other side, grab that Canelo with both hands and buy that mansion in Beverly Hills, California, and live like a King.
Stacked Undercard: More Than Just Crawford
In my opinion, there is a lot to like about this card, and there are a few exceptions. The main event could upset WBA junior middleweight champion Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) giving former three-division world champion Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) a rough welcome in the 154-lb division.
The fight between hyped heavyweight Jared Anderson (17-0, 15 KOs) and Martin Bakole (20-1, 15 KOs) is great, but it should be buried under the undercard below several other fights. Anderson looks like a champion who is not going anywhere, and I suspect that he will lose to Bakole and disappear from the prominent places he had on the Top Rank cards.
US fans are not over the 24-year-old Anderson, despite his glittering undefeated record and numerous fights on ESPN. American fans prefer to see one of these fights in a co-feature.
- Isaac 'Pitbull' Cruz vs. Jose 'Rayo' Valenzuela
- David Morrell vs. Radivoje Kalajdzic
- Andy Cruz vs. Antonio Moran
Those fights are more attractive to US fans than watching Jared Anderson fight, as he has looked poor in recent fights against Ryad Merhy and Charles Martin.
Ruiz vs. Miller: Clash of the Faint Stars
Another underground fight is between former United heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr and Jarrell 'Big Baby' Miller. Ruiz briefly rose to fame when he upset IBF, WBA, and WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, knocking him out in the seventh round on June 1, 2019, at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Ruiz quickly regressed, gained a lot of weight, failed to train properly, and lost his title in one round of a twelve-round unanimous decision to Joshua on December 7, 2019.
Since that loss, Ruiz has fought just twice in the past five years. Ruiz's ambition has faded with the $10 million+ he earned from two AJ fights, and he is now a mere shadow of the fighter he was at the beginning of 2019.
It's hard to believe how badly Ruiz has hurt his popularity by not staying busy with his career because he could have done so much and made so much dough to beat the $10M he earned for his two fights against Joshua. .
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