Max Kellerman Puts Terence Crawford On The Spot About Israil Madrimov Fight & Skipping Middleweight For Canelo

Commentator Max Kellerman put Terence Crawford on the defensive today when he mentioned the name of Israil Madrimov at his press conference for his fight against Canelo Alvarez in New York.

Kellerman Challenges Crawford’s Canelo Move

Kellerman asked Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) why he’s skipping the 160-lb division to go straight up to 168 for the Canelo fight after the tough time he had in his debut at 154 against Madrimov last August.

Crawford made a face at the mention of the tough fight he had with the former WBA 154-lb champion Madrimov, and downplayed the. The reality is, he was arguably beaten, but got saved by the three judges, who gave him a win by the scores 115-113, 116-112, and 115-113.

The performance by Crawford showed that he’s not elite at 154, and would likely lose a rematch with Madrimov. He would also have serious problems with many of the other fighters at 154, like Vergil Ortiz, Sebastian Fundora, and Bakhram Murtazaliev, just to name a few.

After that effort from Crawford, it’s not surprising that he skipped the 160-lb division and went straight to 168 for the Canelo fight. If he’d moved up to middleweight, he would have had to fight the #1 guy in the division, Janibek Alimkhanuly. He wouldn’t do well against him. Janibek is on another level than Madrimov in terms of power and would be a nightmare for a small, older fighter like Crawford.

Skipping Middleweight: Why Crawford?

Max Kellerman: “Why are you jumping up and skipping a division? You just got to junior middleweight. You were given your best fight of your career at junior middleweight by Madrimov. Who gave you a tougher fight than Madrimov? Stop that. Who? Someone gave you a tougher fight than Madrimov?”

Terence Crawford: “Listen, if y’all think that was a tough fight, woo.”

Kellerman: “Well, you’ve been beating the hell out of most guys you’ve fought. He gave you a good fight. Now, you’re skipping middleweight with no rehydration clause, nothing like that to move up to fight a guy that has dominated that weight class for a decade. Why do it this way?”

Crawford: “Why not?”

We know why Crawford skipped middleweight and went straight to Canelo. The money. He’d likely lose to Janibek by knockout, and the payday wouldn’t be anywhere near the $50 million he’s getting to fight Canelo.