Terence Crawford vs Israil Madrimov confirmed as Saudis stage major boxing card in US
Crawford will headline a stadium show in Los Angeles, with Andy Ruiz Jr among several high-profile names on the undercard
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Terence Crawford will return to the ring on 3 August, headlining a stadium show in Los Angeles against Israil Madrimov.
Crawford will challenge Madrimov for the WBA super-welterweight title at the BMO Stadium – home to Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles FC – with the undercard featuring Andy Ruiz Jr, Jarrell Miller, Vergil Ortiz Jr and others. The card is the latest Saudi boxing event, and it marks the Gulf state’s first venture into the US with the sport.
Before Crawford faces Madrimov, Ruiz fights Miller, Ortiz boxes Tim Tszyu, and David Morrell faces Radivoje Kalajdzic for the vacant WBA light-heavyweight title. Also on the card, Isaac Cruz defends the WBA super-lightweight belt against Jose Valenzuela, and Andy Cruz boxes Antonio Moran.
At a press conference on Wednesday (24 April), promoter Eddie Hearn described the event as “the best card I’ve ever seen in US boxing”.
Crawford last fought in July, producing an all-time great performance to dismantle Errol Spence Jr in an undisputed welterweight title bout. That fight, years in the making, saw Crawford drop his fellow American three times before securing a ninth-round win.
Crawford, 36, stayed unbeaten with the result – while handing Spence his first professional loss – and added the unified belts to his WBO welterweight title. Having also previously held a world title at lightweight and been undisputed at super-lightweight, “Bud” is now moving up to super-welterweight in a bid to become a four-division champion.
To achieve that goal, the southpaw (40-0, 31 knockouts) will have to beat the undefeated Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs). The Uzbek, 29, won the vacant WBA title by stopping Magomed Kurbanov in March.
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