Terence Crawford beats Israil Madrimov to become 4-weight champion

In Los Angeles, Terence Crawford won a hard-fought unanimous decision over Israil Madrimov to become the world champion at four weights.

The fight was scored 116-112, 115-113, and 115-113 in favor of the American fighter. He now holds the WBA super welterweight title and, just for good measure, the vacant WBO interim super welterweight belt.

It is important to recognize that Crawford defeated a fighter who came into the fight with a 10-0-1 record; in March, Crawford had won the WBA title by stopping Magomed Kurbanov in the fifth round.

Crawford was taking his time in the early going, hoping to catch Madrimov off-balance after the Uzbek had struck a few well-placed straight shots in the second round.

It was evident that both boxers respected one another, with Madrimov being cautious about giving too much of himself.

In the fourth round, he displayed his explosive full power with another excellent eight-handed move, which caused Crawford to deliver an uppercut, and you could see this was going to the wire.

Although the American appeared to be mostly confident as the fight neared its halfway point, he had fallen to the mat in round five while trying to sidestep a blow from Madrimov.

However, after seven tense rounds, the fight picked up steam, and Madrimov was eager to displease Crawford and the majority of the Los Angeles audience who was cheering for the American.

Following a thrilling eighth round in which both men connected with big shots, Madrimov finished the ninth round with a devastating left that left Crawford stunned.

Although the start was evasive, the conclusion of this fascinating competition resulted in some intense and thumping action.

In the last two rounds, Crawford delivered a flurry of exquisite left uppercuts, but Madrimov's well-known right hand was still giving the American plenty of trouble.