Boxing commentator Tim Bradley says Terence Crawford dominated WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov, easily beating him and “whooping” him last Saturday night in their headliner at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
Exaggerated Claims
Bradley and Shawn Porter agree that Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) totally schooled Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs), which the boxing public doesn’t agree with. The fans saw it as either a win for Madrimov or a narrow twelve-round decision by Crawford.
It’s interesting how Bradley and Porter could see such a different fight than the millions of fans who watched the match at home. Is it bias on their part? It’s hard not to see it that way because it was pretty obvious that Crawford looked terrible the entire fight and was nothing like the fighter he’d been a year ago.
Bradley states that Crawford “hurt” Madrimov several times in the fight, but he doesn’t say which round because he never appeared to come close. I watched the fight twice, and Madrimov never looked hurt, but I’m not close friends with Crawford like Bradley. I see things a little differently.
Crawford looked slow and was punished a lot in the fight. The only thing he was able to do was throw jabs. He came on in the 11th and 12th rounds to outwork Madrimov, but even then, it was close. Madrimov landed the harder shots in both of those rounds.
“Crawford did everything. He led, he started, and he finished combinations,” said Tim Bradley to the Sean Zittel YouTube channel, talking about Terence Crawford’s win over his performance against Israil Madrimov last Saturday night.
“He hurt Madrimov several times during the course of the night,” Bradley continued with his glazing of Crawford. “Crawford was landing his jab, controlling the action and dictating the pace. Crawford is a wizard. It’s going to be tough to beat him.”
Bradley’s Fantasy World
In a fantasy world Bradley dreamed up, Crawford hurt Madrimov and dominated. That’s not the reality of what happened last Saturday. Crawford was beaten up and got lucky with the judges, who appeared to give it to him based on his popularity.
Again, when you’re friends with a fighter, like Bradley is with Crawford, you naturally lean in their direction. You have to be realistic, though, because having a fantasy view of how a fight played out is weird.
“Did you see the grit from him [Crawford] in the 11th and 12th?” said Bradley. “You’re giving this dude all his flowers [Madrimov], but you’re forgetting who won. It was Crawford. Crawford won the fight hands down,” said Bradley, failing to recognize that fans saw it differently.”
Three judges gave Crawford the win, but the boxing public overruled those judges, giving the win to Madrimov. That’s more important. Crawford won with the judges, but Madrimov got the victory with the public, which is more important.
“Madrimov didn’t expose nothing. Madrimov to his behind whooped. He got beat, period. He got smacked. Crawford was in total control the entire fight,” said Bradley.
I didn’t see Madrimov getting “whooped” by Crawford, but maybe I have a different standard for what is considered “whooped” than Bradley. He seems to view jabs as being whipped.
