Israil ‘The Dream’ Madrimov 10-1-1 (7) might’ve lost his WBA junior middleweight title to Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford 41-0 (31) at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California on Saturday night, but he won himself a host of new fans.
The 29-year-old Uzbek proved to be both tough and skilled as he arguably gave Crawford the toughest test of his career, eventually going down by a razor-thin unanimous decision with scores of 113-115, 113-115 and 112-116 to the 36-year-old Omaha southpaw.
Madrimov’s promoter Eddie Hearn got on the front foot after the fight, telling anyone who cared to listen that his boxer was the victim of an egregious robbery, labelling the fight “a waste of time” in his post-fight interview on DAZN.
“It’s not a 116-112 fight. He’s coming into the fight as a champion but because he’s fighting Terence Crawford he doesn’t get a shake,” the Matchroom Boxing boss said.
“All of the effective punches were coming from Israil Madrimov. Crawford had a good flurry in the last round.
“It was a super close fight I believe you have to come in and take that belt of the champion, Terence Crawford didn’t do that and I love him he is brilliant.
“But for me, [Madrimov] deserves to be champion tonight. It was a fight that could have gone either way and then you hear the scorecards and it’s why do you bother kind of thing.
“You lose by four rounds on two of the scorecards, it wasn’t that kind of fight.
“I was sitting in the corner, they were so quiet all fight. They knew: ‘The twelfth round, we need this’.
“They knew this fight was on a knife edge and you get absolutely zero respect from the judges because it is Terence Crawford.
“He’s an amazing fighter, it was a very close fight but as champion, he deserved more respect on those scorecards.
“That was a fight that could have gone either way and it feels like a waste of time when you lose 116-112, it’s like they are already filled out before.
“Everyone knows, His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] came up to me and said ‘Oh no, you’ve ruined our plans’.
“And it was that kind of fight and you hear the scorecards and it’s a waste of time.”
Madrimov was a little more circumspect, adnitting the fight was close.
“There is no doubt he has power, there is no doubt he has skills, I knew that, that’s why this fight was so close,” Madrimov said.
“If I won the 11th and 12th rounds maybe I could have won the fight or got the draw, but I did what I could, I followed my plan.
“I did a lot in the beginning of the fight as well, I tried to be aggressive, I tried to take the fight to him.
“I obviously exerted more energy, but maybe next time, with the experience I gained, I can do better in the future.”
