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Terence Crawford says he heard WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora was knocked out in sparring by former WBA champ Israil Madrimov.
Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) is downgrading Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) before they’ve even signed for a fight. They’re in negotiations and hoping to put together a clash at a still to be determined date.
Crawford, 37, doesn’t like that Fundora has suddenly shown interest in fighting him after being not eager to face him. This makes Crawford think that Fundora changed his mind about him after watching his recent fight against Madrimov on August 3rd and seeing him struggle to win a close 12-round unanimous decision.
Madrimov made Crawford look his age, and he easily could have won if he had shown more initiative in rounds 10 through 12. The way Crawford looked in that fight, any top-tier 154-pounders would want to fight him.
He shouldn’t be upset that Fundora is “licking his chops” about fighting him because he saw what everyone saw. Crawford is showing signs of age, and he’s not the same fighter at junior middleweight that he was at 147, 140, and 135
With Crawford fighting only once a year for the last four years since 2020, not fighting great opposition, and moving up in weight, deterioration was bound to happen. He’s lost the hunger that he had earlier in his career before he began getting paid well. It’s a thing that happens to any person. Laziness sets in once a fighter starts making good money, and it’s happened to Crawford.
“That’s a fight on the table. If Fundora’s licking his chops over my performance vs. Israil Madrimov, then I should be licking my chops because Madrimov knocked Fundora out in sparring. So, who should be licking their chops? That’s what I heard,” said Terence Crawford to Bernie Tha Boxer, devaluing his potential next opponent, WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora.
It’s interesting how Crawford is getting upset, forcing his own negative conclusions about why Fundora wants to fight him now. Perhaps the true reason Fundora and his promoter want Crawford is because it’s a fight that will likely pay better than a title defense against Errol Spence. It’s not that they view Crawford as a sure-thing win. He’s now the most popular fighter in the 154-lb division, and anyone who faces him will get a nice payday.
“I don’t understand why Shakur, Devin Haney, and I get the most hate out of everybody,” said Crawford. “You got two young black fighters in Shakur and Devin, that is on top of the top. You got them doing great things their whole career.”
Haney and Shakur Stevenson are not at the top of the sport. Haney just got beaten, and Shakur might not even be the fifth best fighter at lightweight. He’s not a PPV draw, and he might lose his next fight against William Zepeda.
“You got me handling my business since 2014, 2013 until today. Ten years strong as a champion. When you look at Devin. He kind of mimicked and copied Floyd’s image. He wanted to be like Floyd. He did a good thing of doing so,” said Crawford.
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