Madrimov's attitude is he was made for this moment against Crawford
Has wanted to face the best and now will make 1st junior middleweight title defense against the pound-for-pound king
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LOS ANGELES — Even in the fight hotel, where his image adorns a massive banner at the front door, at the check-in desk, the elevator doors and elsewhere, Israil Madrimov can hang out in the lobby unbothered and unrecognized by anyone other than the most die-hard boxing person.
He doesn’t seem to mind either. He is happy, smiling and excited for the biggest fight of his career.
That will be when he will defend the WBA junior middleweight title for the first time, as well as box for the vacant WBO interim belt, against Terence Crawford, the unified welterweight champion moving up in weight for the main event of the Riyadh Season-backed card on Saturday (DAZN PPV, PPV.com, ESPN+ PPV, Prime Video PPV, 6 p.m. ET, $79.99) at BMO Stadium.
It has been a bit of a whirlwind few months for Madrimov culminating in this opportunity. He was set to fight unbeaten Magomed Kurbanov in a final eliminator on March 8 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on the Anthony Joshua-Francis Ngannou undercard. But when the WBA re-classified unified champion Jermell Charlo as a “champion in recess” due to his inactivity, Madrimov-Kurbanov was sanctioned for the vacant world title.
Madrimov shined and impressively stopped Kurbanov in the fifth round to claim the 154-pound belt, fulfilling a dream to be a world champion.
And with the belt in his possession and Crawford looking to make his next move after Errol Spence Jr.’s right to an immediate rematch expired (and Spence would be out of action for an extended period anyway), Madrimov got the call to face Crawford.
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