Highly rated junior middleweight contender Xander Zayas says Terence Crawford will be bullied by some of the bigger fighters at 154 if he mixes it up with them.
Crawford’s limitations exposed
Zayas notes that Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) has walked fighters while competing at 135, 140 and 147, but he couldn’t do that much in his debut against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on Aug. 3 in Los Angeles .
Xander doesn’t say which fighters Crawford will bully, but he’s probably thinking about this potential bullies:
- Sebastian Fundora
- Vergil Ortiz Jr.
- Serhii Bohachuk
- Tim Tszyu
- Charles Conwell
- Erickson Lubin
- Brian Mendoza
- Israil Madrimov: *If Madrimov fights aggressively in the rematch, Crawford will be in a world of hurt.
Crawford, 36, was repeatedly tagged by powerful right hands from Madrimov, and his shots lacked the same power they had when he fought at 147. He only won because Madrimov didn’t fight as aggressively as he needed to in rounds eight through twelve.
The fight revealed that Crawford has reached his ceiling at 154 of what he is capable of, and he will not be able to go beyond the division to succeed at 160 or 168. Crawford is too small, old and weak to compete at 154, especially against a fighter like Canelo Alvarez. This is the guy Crawford wants in what will be considered a glorious celebrity match.
“147, he walks guys down, at 140 and 135; not so much at 154, and (Israil) Madrimov is not the biggest guy at 154,” Xander Zayas told the Secondsout. YouTube channel, reacting to Terence Crawford’s unimpressive debut at junior middleweight against WBA champion Israil Madrimov on August 3.
A dangerous section
What we saw from Crawford in the Madrimov fight was that he had reached his limit and age was starting to show as well. It’s a witch’s brew involving Crawford’s age, inactivity and fighting beyond his means. We knew Crawford would hit his limit once he got too ambitious, but I didn’t think he would wait this long to finally move up.
Crawford, a Nebraska native, should have done it years ago as he spun his wheels at 147, locked out of the important fights and stuck to defending his WBO trinket against low-level opposition.
“It’s different, different waters. I’m not saying he (Crawford) will have trouble against a lot of people, but there are some of us who are big enough that we can bully a little bit more than other fighters,” Zayas said of what Crawford will deal with if he mixes it up featuring some of the bigger, stronger fighters in the 154-lb division.
If Crawford sticks around to fight the bigger and bolder 154-pounder, he will start losing, and he will be forced to retire.
On the bright side, at least he’ll have tested his limits instead of giving up after one fight against Madrimov, which appears to have deterred him from venturing further into the shark-invested waters of 154 pounds. It’s a dangerous place for older fighters, especially when they only fight annually like Crawford.
