Terence Crawford is the modern day Leonard, Hagler, Hearns

Written by Alan Dawson in Los Angeles

Terence Crawford is the modern version of boxing's 'Four Kings.'

This was said by the trainer of this fight, Brian 'Bomac' McIntyre, and the chairman of Matchroom, Eddie Hearn, who compared Crawford to 'Sugar' Ray Leonard, among others.

In Crawford's last fight, he took the brunt of longtime rival Errol Spence Jr., knocking him down en route to a ninth-round one-sided knockout.

With the victory, Crawford became the undisputed welterweight champion of the world, and became one of the top three pound-for-pound stars, along with Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Uysk.

He will return to the ring on Saturday when he will face Matchroom boxer Israel Madrimov in a WBA super welterweight world title fight at the 22,000 capacity BMO Stadium.

Thinking about Spence win to Debate News'Bomac' heralded Crawford's victory over Spence as “one of the greatest” wins in division history.

“That's Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, and Ray Leonard,” he told us. “That's one of those wins.”

Madrimov's fight as part of the Riyadh Season initiative is Crawford's first fight since taking on Spence in July, last year.

Although Turki Alalshikh has already rolled out the red carpet, and it seems that he has not paid the price in a fight week that has seen events in the Santa Monica area, the Chinese Theatre, and, tomorrow, the home ground of the MLS team Los Angeles FC, Hearn suggests that it deserves the Hollywood treatment – and more.

““I feel like he should be an American star,” Hearn said Debate News and other journalists this week.

“He is everything that is good about sports and competition, the way of thinking and preparing, and living life like a true professional. We should let him know as he is here.”

Hearn, like 'Bomac' then compared him to 'The Four Kings,' saying: “He's like Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, and Sugar Ray Leonard. He's at that level.”

But, as much as he respects Crawford, he doesn't look like a winner in Saturday's game, as he praises Madrimov.

“[Madrimov] he's a 154-pound crushing machine,” Hearn said. “Not just with strength and chin but with great movement, and ring IQ.

“On Saturday, this will be the toughest fight of Terence Crawford's life, no doubt about it. You will see a great fight between two of today's greats.”