Promoter Eddie Hearn has Crawford on edge ahead of this Saturday's main event bout at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles between Terence Crawford and Israil Madrimov.
(Photo by Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)
Hearn's showmanship
Hearn said he wanted to bring out Crawford's character because Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) hadn't said anything. Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) looked shaken, but he wasn't faking it. Something Hearn said bothered him.
Hearn had to pick things up afterwards, but the fans saw the need. Crawford is nervous about his bout with Madrimov, the WBA junior middleweight champion, and it's understandable why.
Crawford doesn't have much of a personality, even when he's joking around. His inability to be comfortable during interviews and get fans to listen to him is one thing that has held his career back.
The Nebraska native knows this is the toughest fight of his long career, and age, inactivity and a move up to 154 pounds make this a bad time for him.
With the Canelo-Alvarez fight on the line, Crawford knows he can't afford to slip up against Madrimov because he needs to win to keep a chance to face Canelo in 2025.
“I don't think Madrimov is at a huge disadvantage coming into this fight, but looking at his professional record, I think it would be much better if Madrimov had 18 professional fights coming into this fight,” Eddie Hearn told Boxing King Media about this Saturday's bout between Terence Crawford and WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov at Turki Aralsik's Riyadh Season.
Madrimov's pro fight count doesn't really matter because he has over 300 amateur fights, and even though he only has 11 pro fights, he actually has more boxing experience than Crawford.
In Crawford's 40-fight professional career, most of his opponents were underdogs. Only his final 18 opponents were truly world-class fighters. From 2008 to 2013, Terence's opponents were sub-par, not great.
“I bring out the Terence Crawford personality, really,” Hearn said of getting Crawford fired up during their meeting today. “Sometimes, when Israil is pretty quiet, I kind of want to poke the bear a little bit.”
Hearn needs to do more for Madrimov because he hasn't done a great job promoting this fight and Crawford hasn't done much either. Most of what's been posted is videos of Crawford sparring with Andre Ward, which isn't ideal. Without the heavy media work, this fight is not going to happen.
“When you bring out Crawford's personality, I think he's got a big personality,” Hearn continued. “I think he's really entertaining and I was able to bring that out of him. So my job this week is to spice him up a little bit.”
The funniest moment I remember from Crawford's performance was when one of his team members was close to tears while defending him from criticism he was receiving. That was hilarious. Crawford was trying to comfort the guy. I nearly died watching that. It was pure comedy.
“Whether it makes Crawford nervous and upset is not really the issue, but if it does, great,” Hearn said today about infuriating Crawford. “I don't think anything I say is going to change what happens on Saturday night, but I think it's good for the excitement. I don't think people realize that this is a fight. This is a performance, this is a great play.”
Hearn's performance in upsetting Crawford was brilliant. It probably wouldn't have changed the outcome of the fight, but it was fun to see Terence get so angry. Hearn commented that this was the toughest fight of his career and that Madrimov knocked him out, upsetting Crawford.
“Sometimes there's a lot of truth in that, but my job as a showman is to captivate you. [media] “It was about Terence Crawford going crazy and capturing that moment. I think that moment went viral. People were captivated by that fight and it showed what kind of fighter Terence Crawford is,” Hearn said.
Hearn did a masterful job frustrating Crawford today and I hope he continues to do so as this has been the most entertaining part of his promotional run so far.
