Israil Madrimov will spoil Terence Crawford and Turki Alalshikh’s plans for the future, says Eddie Hearn: “This is a real, real fight"
Terence Crawford will be making his super welterweight debut against WBA champion Israil Madrimov on Aug. 3 in a Riyadh Season event held in Los Angeles. The event was organized by arguably the most powerful man in boxing right now, Turki Alalshikh.
Alalshikh is the Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority for Saudi Arabia, and is responsible for some of the biggest boxing matches over the past 18 months, including Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk.
The 42-year-old has expressed his confidence that Crawford will deliver an "historic performance" against Madrimov. But the leading boxing promoter, Eddie Hearn, is not so certain.
The Matchroom Boxing chairman believes that the WBA champion could cause a massive upset against one of the sport's best pound-for-pound fighters. During a recent interview, Hearn discussed the upcoming 154-pound title fight, and said:
"Probably the best card American boxing has ever seen, August 3rd, in Los Angeles... Israil Madrimov is being massively overlooked, I actually sent His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] a message yesterday and I said, 'I'm really sorry to ruin your plans for Terence Crawford.' Because all people are talking about is what happens next - Canelo Alvarez, [Jaron] 'Boots' Ennis."
Hearn added:
"But Israil Madrimov, I think, is the toughest test so far of his [Crawford] career up at 154. He's a huge light middleweight super welterweight, punches very very hard, has tremendous movement, good boxing IQ and outstanding amateur pedigree as well. This is a real, real fight."
Watch Eddie Hearn's interview below (0:00):
Turki Alalshikh wants to make Jaron Ennis vs. Terence Crawford in the near future
Terence Crawford was crowned the undisputed welterweight champion after beating Errol Spence Jr. via TKO in July 2023.
'Bud' made history by becoming the first male boxer to win undisputed world titles in two weight divisions, and negotiations for a rematch with Spence Jr. began after 'The Truth' activated his rematch clause.
With Crawford legally obligated to pursue a rematch with Spence Jr., he was stripped of the IBF title by the sanctioning body for not agreeing to fight his mandatory challenger, Jaron Ennis.
After negotiations for a rematch between the pair collapsed, the former undisputed welterweight king announced his move to 154 pounds, where he is eager for more undisputed glory.
But Ennis is regarded by many as arguably the best talent in boxing, and following his recent IBF title defense against David Avanesyan, Turki Alalshikh took to X to post this:
"I just reached out to boxer Jaron Ennis and Eddie Hearn to congratulate him on his win and I'd love to see Enis in a fight with Crawford at 154 pounds soon."
See Turki Alalshikh's post about Terence Crawford vs. Ennis below: