Terence Crawford made a successful junior middleweight debut with a unanimous decision victory over Israil Madrimov to win the WBA world title on Saturday at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), of Omaha, Nebraska, won by scorecards of 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113. He is now a four-division champion (lightweight, junior welterweight, welterweight, junior middleweight). Crawford is also a two-division undisputed champ, a feat accomplished by only two other men’s boxers (Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk).
He was coming off an impressive performance against Errol Spence Jr. in July 2023. In that fight, Crawford dropped Spence three times to eventually score a ninth-round TKO win at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to unify all four major welterweight world titles.
Crawford, 36, is ESPN’s No. 2-ranked pound-for-pound fighter, and he entered the bout against Madrimov as the top fighter at welterweight.
Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs), of Khiva, Uzbekistan, suffered the first defeat of his professional career. He had won the title by beating Magomed Kurbanov via fifth-round TKO in March on the Anthony Joshua–Francis Ngannou undercard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Madrimov, 29, turned pro in 2018, and he has notable victories over Raphael Igbokwe and Michel Soro. He was a decorated amateur fighter with almost 100 fights.
Full card:
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Title fight: Terence Crawford defeats Israil Madrimov by unanimous decision to win the WBA “super” junior middleweight title
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Title fight: Jose Valenzuela defeated Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz by split decision to win the WBA junior welterweight title
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Andy Ruiz Jr. and Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller fought to a majority draw
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Martin Bakole defeated Jared Anderson by fifth-round KO in a heavyweight bout
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Title fight: David Morrell defeated Radivoje Kalajdzic by unanimous decision to win the WBA vacant “regular” light heavyweight title
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Andy Cruz defeated Antonio Moran by seventh-round KO in a lightweight bout
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