Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov Heading to Los Angeles?
Apr 18, 2024 • 11:45 AM ET
Initial conversations have taken place to stage a World Boxing Association junior-middleweight title fight between champion Israil Madrimov and unbeaten, three-division champion Terence Crawford Aug. 3 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, BoxingScene has learned.
The card would mark the first American foray by Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the Kingdom’s General Entertainment Authority who has staged several major cards in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing will handle the promotion, according to an individual who spoke to BoxingScene on the condition of anonymity because the deal is not finalized.
On Wednesday, Turki Alalshikh posted a photo on “X” of Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) standing in a ring with multiple championship belts, to which the fighter responded with an emoji of curious and interested expressions.
The main event would mark Crawford’s attempt to capture a belt in a fourth weight class after previously standing as both undisputed welterweight and 140-pound king.
Uzbekistan’s Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) captured the WBA belt on March 8 in Riyadh, defeating Magomed Kurbanov by fifth-round TKO.
Madrimov, 29, trains in Indio, Calif., a two-hour drive east of the famed Coliseum, which has hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics.
Alalshikh, who is preparing to stage the undisputed heavyweight title fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk on May 18 and the undisputed light-heavyweight championship fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitrii Bivol in Riyadh on June 1, has shown an interest in producing stacked cards.
The effort is first focused on getting Crawford and Madrimov finalized, but given the historic location, the supporting fights should be talent-littered.
Lance Pugmire has been a full-time boxing writer for nearly 20 years, serving now as BoxingScene’s U.S. Senior Writer and assistant producer for ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today.” Pugmire capped a near 20-year career at the Los Angeles Times (sports investigations, NHL/MLB beat work, law enforcement/courts and boxing/UFC) to join The Athletic, and then USA Today. Pugmire’s stint at The Times started with the first Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez fight and the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jnr then-record pay-per-view, leading through a slew of ringside assignments at major bouts, including Mayweather-Pacquiao, Mayweather-Canelo and the Canelo-Golovkin trilogy. Lance’s appreciation for boxing is rooted in his admiration and appreciation for the fighters, gladiators who have proven to be the most forthcoming and candid of all the athletes he has interviewed over a career dating to 1990. Lance was honored to be named the 2022 winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence and he’s collected many BWAA writing awards in categories ranging from breaking news to deep-dive long features.
