4 Best Opponents for Terence Crawford After Win vs. Israil Madrimov
Terence Crawford added another bejeweled line to his career ring resume on Saturday night in Los Angeles, defeating Uzbek champion Israil Madrimov by decision to take his WBA title at 154 pounds and claim belted status in a fourth division since going pro in 2008.
The 36-year-old Nebraskan won eight of 12 rounds in the eyes of one judge and seven of 12 on two remaining scorecards to boost his record to still-pristine 41-0.
The win opens up another series of options for the pound-for-pound star's next fight and the B/R combat got together in the aftermath to frame those options in terms of what could happen, what probably will happen, what we wish to happen and what would stretch the limits of the modern internet.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the comments.
Who It Probably Will Be: Sebastian Fundora
Crawford has always been a belt-acquiring type.
He was "only" a one-title winner as a lightweight, but developed a fondness for jewel-encrusted trinkets upon moving to 140 and didn't the weight class until he was recognized as champion by the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO.
He had the same M.O. at welterweight, where he consolidated his greatness with a brutal stoppage of Errol Spence Jr. last summer that made him a four-belt champ.
The win over Madrimov yielded a single belt at 154 and the fastest route to gathering all four goes through Fundora, the freakishly tall (6'5.5") southpaw who emerged with the WBC and WBO titles after a bloody 12-rounder with Tim Tszyu in March.
It was Fundora that Team Crawford had its eye on while plotting a course at 154 in the first place before Fundora veered off into a would-be fight with the also-climbing Spence that's since been postponed.
Who We Wish It Would Be: Errol Spence Jr.
Maybe it'll be next. Maybe they can match the winners.
But now that Crawford is a champ at 154 and former for Errol Spence Jr. has moved up the ladder, there'd certainly be interest in getting the two welterweight rivals back together for a re-do of their highly-anticipated bout last summer.
Crawford was a dominant winner but there were suggestions that Spence's issues with making 147 pounds might have compromised his effectiveness, so there'd be enough reason to believe the outcome could change to make it an easy sell.
And if Spence and Fundora do get together first in their own title bout then it's an even easier sell for the winner to go straight into what'd be a three-belt showdown with Crawford.
"The possibility is there," Crawford told Forbes.
Who It Could Be: Vergil Ortiz Jr.
We'll leave this one to the money guys.
Crawford has been working with boxing insurgent Turki Alalshikh, and it was the Saudi entertainment authority boss who assembled the Riyadh Season fight card on which Crawford's dethroning of Israil Madrimov was the main event.
Alalshikh was predictably making the rounds at ringside and in doing so chatted up Golden Boy Promotions founder Oscar De La Hoya, whose prized welterweight prospect Vergil Ortiz Jr. climbed to 154 to begin the year and has won two straight bouts by first-round KOs.
He's on the schedule for a third fight at the weight later this month and Alalshikh said on Saturday's fight broadcast that Crawford-Ortiz was a fight he wanted to orchestrate going forward.
Ortiz is 21-0 with 21 KOs since turning pro in 2016, fighting an average of 3.38 rounds.
What Would Break the Internet: Canelo Alvarez
If you're a fan of Canelo vs. Crawford, Saturday was a rough night.
The idea that Crawford was pushed 12 rounds for the first time in eight years and was touch-and-go on the scorecards with a guy at 154 pounds who'd had just 10 previous fights doesn't do much for the idea that he can climb another 14 pounds to face a guy on Alvarez's level.
And while we won't suggest we're experts on "Bud's" psyche or the way he presents himself, he certainly seemed a bit less intense about the proposition after going 12 rounds with Israil Madrimov than he had in the months and weeks prior.
It was less competitive and more financial.
"If the money's right," he said, "we got a fight."
Toward that end, the aforementioned Turki Alalshikh said he'd made an offer to Team Canelo and it would be up to the Mexican superstar whether or not it'd happen.
Alvarez has a September fight scheduled with Puerto Rican slugger Edgar Berlanga, and you can count analyst Sergio Mora, a former champion at 154, among those thinking Crawford would be biting off more than he can chew.
"I don't think he should be moving up to super middleweight," Mora said. "There's a limit to greatness."