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Tim Bradley feels that WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov’s fighting style is similar to former WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn and that Terence Crawford will easily handle him on August 3rd.
Bradley states that Crawford will deal with Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) as he did against Horn six years ago in their fight on June 9, 2018. Crawford was 30 years old then compared to 36 now and busier with his career, fighting twice a year.
In that fight, Crawford stopped Horn in the ninth round. The formula that Crawford utilized to defeat Horn was the following:
- Jab
- Circle ring to avoid pressure
- Land as Horn comes forward
- Clinch when Horn got near
- Rough up in the clinch
It was the same formula repeated throughout the fight, and Horn couldn’t do much of anything because he couldn’t handle Crawford’s movement. When Horn did get close, Crawford would grab him in a clinch and take advantage of his wrestling background to keep him breaking free.
Watching Crawford spar with Andre Ward, it’s clear that he will use movement against Madrimov to prevent him from landing his shots. Crawford will focus on throwing his jab, landing pot shots, and tying up Madrimov when he does get in range.
It could be a dull fight for boxing fans who like to see fighters that come straight at each other, but that’s never been Crawford’s fighting style. The fights where he was more or less stationary were when he fought the washed Errol Spence and fringe contender David Avanesyan.
Crawford will have to use the old style of fighting that he employed against Jeff Horn against Madrimov because he hits too hard, and he’s too old to brawl with that kind of fighter.
“He’s facing the right guy at the right time, and he’s going to take full advantage of Madrimov,” said Tim Bradley to Chris Mannix’s YouTube channel, predicting an easy win for Terence Crawford over Israil Madrimov on August 3rd.
“When he [Crawford] moved up to 147, he fought Jeff Horn [in 2018 at age 30]. A lot of people said Crawford’s small, moving up to 147. ‘I don’t know if he can deal with that strength.’ This guy [Horn] bullied [38-year-old] Manny Pacquiao. Crawford handled him pretty easily.”
Horn was never as good as Madrimov. That’s the one thing that Bradley is overlooking. A year after Horn lost to Crawford, he was knocked out by Michael Zerafa and then Tim Tszyu. Those losses weren’t because Crawford softened him up. Horn was never that good, so he’s not a clone of Madrimov.
“He’s [Madrimov] a bully type, strong, come forward. Do you see the trend with the guys that come forward? Crawford knows how to deal with those types of styles.”
Madrimov doesn’t bully his opponent, as Bradley says. He doesn’t use roughhouse tactics. He throws potshots and looks to wear down his opponents. Crawford uses more roughhouse tactics than Madrimov does with his wrestling, shoving, and holding & hitting. Bradley has a simple cartoon image in his head of how he views Madrimov, and it’s not realistic.
Crawford will likely use the same formula against Madrimov as he did against Jeff Horn, but he’s used that same style many times during his career against fighters like Ray Beltran and Ricky Burns.
He likes to move, jab, nail his opponents coming forward, then tie them up in a clinch when they get close enough to land. It’s Crawford’s style, and it can be defeated, but it requires someone with one-punch power to do it.
Madrimov isn’t a one-punch slugger, but if he were, Crawford likely would never have agreed to this fight. The only reason Crawford took this fight is that he sees this as a sure-thing win that won’t mess up his chances of getting the massive Canelo Alvarez payday in 2025.
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