As the hours and minutes ticked down ahead of arguably the most important fight of Terence Crawford’s career, very few doubts surrounded the proceedings.
No one, for instance, doubted whether Crawford, a three-division champion aspiring for a title in a fourth weight class, had earned his Hollywood-headliner moment. Few doubted that he could handle the move up to 154 pounds. Perhaps even fewer doubted specifically whether Crawford, at 36, could beat 29-year-old junior middleweight titleholder Israil Madrimov on Saturday at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
And against Madrimov, Crawford showed again why he deserved that professional respect – even if the unanimous decision, by scores of 116-112 and 115-113 (twice), was one of the tightest and most grueling of Crawford’s career. The stage and the degree of difficulty of the challenge, if not the performance, served to burnish Crawford’s already-illustrious profile.
Still, there was a question that had made the rounds before Saturday’s fight, and which lingered in the aftermath: Is Crawford willing to do what it takes to become a crossover star?
On a recent episode of ProBox TV’s “Deep Waters,” analyst and former junior welterweight titleholder Chris Algieri noted that one requirement for a modern boxer to make the leap from elite performer to global household name is the kind of calculated exposure that demands a fighter lower their guard – which can be a tough ask.
“A lot of people don’t like that,” Algieri said. “There’s a difference between being famous and being rich. A lot of fighters want to be famous and they want to be rich. Some guys just want to be rich.”
In the era of social media and “so much access to athletes,” Algieri said, the low-key Crawford may not be cut out for throwing his front door wide open for public viewing.
“He’s a grinder, he’s a private person, he keeps to himself,” Algieri said of Crawford. “He’s about business.”
Crawford, from Nebraska, is known for shining a light on his native Omaha (where he has staged six of his fights, plus another in nearby Lincoln) and for being a relatively reserved, family-oriented figure in a sport teeming with outspoken personalities and wild-at-heart partiers. Even when he was offered the chance to call out cash cow Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in his postfight interview, Crawford – not one to feed the machine – downplayed the importance of the potential matchup and more or less kept it moving.
“A lot of it comes down to what you want to do, what you want to present to the public,” Algieri said. “Yes, does Terence have all those great qualities, as a fantastic father, as a family man, as a local hero, as a guy who gives back to the community? Absolutely. Does he want to invite the cameras into his home? Doesn’t seem like it.”
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