The World Boxing Organization announced Monday that Terrence Crawford's scheduled Aug. 3 bout against Israel Madrimov will be sanctioned as an interim title fight, with the eventual winner receiving the 154-pound title after the fight in Los Angeles. The possibility of owning two has increased.
Uzbekistan's Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) is already crowned WBA junior middleweight champion after defeating Magomed Kurbanov by fifth-round TKO on March 8 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Like that game, the Los Angeles card, anchored at the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, will be held under the direction of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority Director General Turki Alarusik.
The event, headlined by Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs), an undefeated three-division champion and the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world according to some analysts, will mark Alarusik's U.S. debut. There are also reports that Southern California's former world heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz will be on the bill, with the fight expected to feature a deep undercard.
Alarsik will be competing on May 18th (an undisputed heavyweight title fight between undefeated champion Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk) and June 1st (undefeated Russian world champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Usyk). Bivol (an undisputed light heavyweight title fight between the two) is set to hold a crucial two-card event in Saudi Arabia. .
The provisional WBO strap was added to the list of prizes for the winner of the main event on August 3rd, as current WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastián Fundora won a split decision over then-champion Tim Tzu in Las Vegas on March 30th. This was caused by a broken nose during the recovery.
Fundora has been medically suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission until the end of September, and Fundora's promoter Sampson Lukowicz said Fundora, who also wears the WBC 154-pound belt, will be suspended until December. He said he might not even be able to fight again.
Crawford, the recent undisputed welterweight champion as the WBO “super” champion, has every right to pursue a title shot in a nearby weight class and was doing so even before Tszyu and Fundora fought.
With an announcement to officially publicize the bout with Madrimov scheduled for Wednesday in New York, Crawford may finally learn that by defeating Madrimov, the WBO strap will be all his.
If Fandora chooses to fight someone other than Crawford next, he will either relinquish the belt or ultimately authorize the WBO board to strip it for failure to comply with its obligations. .
