Teofimo Lopez: “Age Is Catching Up To Crawford”

140-lb champion Teofimo Lopez wasn’t impressed with Terence Crawford’s performance in his close, controversial win over WBA light middleweight champion Israil Madrimov last Saturday night.

(Credit: Melina Pizano/Matchroom)

Crawford Looked Faded 

Teofimo says the 36-year-old Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) showed his age, looked slower, and was hit rather a lot by Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs). Crawford won a narrow 12-round unanimous decision on the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. Crawford was bailed out by the judges, who gave him a win by the scores 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113.

The fight showed that Crawford is getting long within the tooth and has little time left before retirement. If he continues fighting for for much longer, he’ll start taking losses because he can’t depend upon the judges to bail him out each time with controversial decisions.

They gave Crawford a break this time against the foreign fighter from Uzbekistan, but he can’t count on that taking place for 2 or three more years if he intends to fight the highest fighters.

Age: An Accelerating Factor

Crawford’s yr break after his win over Errol Spence last yr in July 2023 aged him badly, which isn’t surprising. Sometimes when people reach 35, their age often accelates. That appears to be the case with Crawford.

He looked like he had aged seven years for the reason that Spence fight and resembled a 40+ year-old against Madrimov. Crawford could only do jab, which wasn’t even effective. I watched the fight twice, and I scored it for Madrimov 9-3.

The Nebraska native Crawford was the image of a faded fighter last night, and lucky, the judges were willing to offer him a win for old-time’s sake.

Within the post-fight interview, Crawford immediately called out Canelo, saying, “If the cash’s right, we got a fight. I’m going to calm down and revel in this win.”

It’s unclear how much money Crawford is expecting to get for a fight against Canelo because he’s not going to get more fighting than anyone else. Furthermore, with the best way Crawford looked, he’ll likely lose if he fights a killer like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.

“That age is catching as much as Crawford. Let’s see what he does next. I don’t think he should fight Canelo,” said Teofimo Lopez to the media after watching Terence Crawford’s performance against Israil Madrimov last Saturday night.

Lopez is true. Age is catching as much as Crawford, and if he doesn’t get the Canelo fight, he should concentrate on getting the best-paying fight while he can because he won’t stay unbeaten for for much longer if he faces quality opposition.

“I consider that I did enough because I used to be the champion, ” said Madrimov. “I used to be defending the belt, and I used to be controlling the rhythm.”