Terence Crawford may have retired with an unbeaten record but Eddie Hearn doesn’t believe that should have been the case.
‘Bud’ hung up the gloves in December after winning all 42 of his professional fights, becoming a five-division world champion in the process.
That included the undisputed crown at light welterweight, welterweight and super middleweight, making him just the second boxer in history to become undisputed in three separate divisions.
Crawford picked up a number of notable wins over the years, such as the likes of Errol Spence, Shawn Porter and most notably Canelo Alvarez in his final outing, but it is a clash from 2024 that Matchroom promoter Hearn felt ‘Bud’ should have lost.
Speaking directly to the former pound-for-pound king during the TNT broadcast of the Andy Ruiz vs. Damian Knyba fight, Hearn reflected on a Crawford bout that he promoted in Los Angeles.
“I thought you lost that fight against Madrimov.”
Crawford fought Israil Madrimov in his first and only appearance at 154lbs, claiming a unanimous decision victory to earn the WBA super welterweight title, though it proved to be a much closer contest than many fans expected.
The three judges scored the fight 115-113, 115-113 and 116-112 in Crawford’s favour, and whilst most onlookers felt that was probably the correct outcome, Hearn was promoting Madrimov in the bout, so it isn’t a surprise that he still believes ‘Bud’ was fortunate.
Hearn wasn’t the only one to have an exchange with Crawford during the Ruiz vs. Knyba event, with two-weight world champion Jaron Ennis also involved in a war of words with the retired star.
