Boxing pound-for-pound rankings: Crawford wins but doesn’t impress; where does he land?

Terence Crawford moved up in weight once again and captured a world title in a fourth division. The former undisputed junior welterweight and welterweight champion, who also held a lightweight world title, made his debut at junior middleweight on Saturday with a closely contested unanimous decision victory over Ismail Madrimov to win the WBA belt.

Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), of Omaha Nebraska, was ESPN’s top pound-for-pound fighter until Oleksandr Usyk took his spot with an impressive victory over Tyson Fury last May. Crawford’s performance against Madrimov wasn’t as impressive as some of his previous showings, specifically his destruction of Errol Spence Jr. in July 2023. Crawford went the distance against Madrimov, ending his 11-win KO streak. The margin of victory was also very close (116-112, 115-113 and 115-113) in all three scorecards.

Madrimov’s promoter, Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn, wasn’t happy with the decision and thought his fighter deserved the nod after 12 hard-fought rounds.

“It was a very close main event and I thought Israil Madrimov did enough to edge it here tonight,” Hearn said after the fight. “There’s always the argument of dethroning the champion whether you think that’s a thing or not and I’m not sure Crawford dethroned Madrimov tonight.”