- THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas
- Posts
- 🥊 Chasing Greatness
🥊 Chasing Greatness
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Fight With Teddy Atlas Newsletter, your one-stop shop for all things combat sports related, brought to you by Teddy and The Fight team.
Every Friday We Bring You:
A combat sports news digest with all the headlines you need to know from Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts.
Highlights from the podcast and across the fight world.
Fight times and information you need to know ahead of time.
Fight News From Around The 🌍
Moving On Up
Pound-for-pound star Terence Crawford will look to solidify himself as boxing’s best when he takes on Israil Madrimov tomorrow night in Los Angeles for the latter’s WBA junior middleweight championship, as well as the interim WBO belt.
Should he be victorious, “Bud” Crawford would become a four-division world champ and there would be very few left who would deny him the top spot on the pound-for-pound rankings as a result.
For a fighter who started off at 135 lbs, to become champion at junior middleweight would be a fantastic achievement and one that only an illustrious few (Floyd Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao) have managed. Joining this exclusive club would mean we are witnessing true modern greatness.
However, this is far from a lay up for the Omaha native, as he’s been matched up with arguably the divisions most dynamic and talented young champion in Madrimov.
A former Olympian with a deep amateur pedigree, the Uzbek makes up for his relative lack of pro experience with the sheer quality of his performances, displaying punching power, dazzling footwork and underrated ring generalship across his 11 pro fights.
His dismantling of Magomed Kurbanov to win the world title in his last fight was a punch-perfect performance, and if he can carry that momentum into tomorrow, Crawford will be in for a long night.
Crawford though, as we’ve been saying for a while on the show, is a truly special talent.
The fact that he’s up against it, as we saw against Spence Jr, will bring the best out of him and although Madrimov will likely provide a tough challenge, especially considering it’s a new weight class, it’s hard to envision a scenario that doesn’t end with the words “and the new” come Saturday night.
The Saudis Strike Again
Tomorrow’s card is the first of many planned cards staged by Turki Alalshikh on foreign soil, taking the Saudi-backed Riyadh Season to even loftier heights as they continue to be trailblazers for great boxing matchmaking and promotion.
The money at their disposal has opened up fights that not long ago would have taken years of negotiation and offered them up to boxing fans more consistently than ever before.
An example is one of tomorrow’s supporting acts, as Jarrell Big Baby Miller takes on former unified world champ Andy Ruiz Jr across 12 rounds.
Ruiz is coming off a 2 year lay off, his last fight having been a back-and-forth slugfest with a hard-hitting but obviously past his best Luis Ortiz.
Miller, himself having had time off for different reasons, has been active recently, having lost by last-minute knockout to a resurgent Daniel Dubois back in December.
The winner won’t be a title challenger anytime soon, but they will be able to insert themselves into a heavyweight title picture that could become fragmented very soon after the Usyk vs Fury rematch.
Rest Of The Card
Isaac Cruz vs. Jose Valenzuela (WBA Super Lightweight title)
Jared Anderson vs Martin Bakole
David Morell Jr vs. Radivoje Kalajdzic
Andy Cruz Jr vs Antonio Moran
Teddy’s Top Picks
Fight ⏰ for this weekend
Boxing: Crawford vs Madrimov (Saturday 3rd/Sunday 4th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 9pm Eastern/ 6pm Pacific | Main Event: 11pm Eastern/ 8pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 2am | Main Event: 4am
🇦🇺 Full Card: 11am Eastern/ 9am Western | Main event: 1pm Eastern/ 11am Western
MMA: Sandhagen vs Nurmagomedov (Saturday 3rd/Sunday 4th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 4pm Eastern/1pm Pacific | Main Event: 6pm Eastern/3pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Main Card: 9pm | Main Event: 11pm
🇦🇺 Full Card: 6am Eastern/ 4am Western | Main event: 8am Eastern/ 6am Western