I first noticed it with Shawn Porter. Months before Porter got mandated the Crawford fight, he and his pops were talking about they had the key to beating Crawford. When the mandated announcement was made and then the fight became official, they started they would definitely stop Crawford. Said they would present more pressure for him than he's ever face before in his career. Porter guaranteed the stoppage all the way up til they were face to face during fight week when Porter showed up with that suede vest and no shirt at the press conference. Crawford sat across from him and Porter had that awkward laughing moment when asked about the guarantee. He didn't dare say it again with Crawford sitting less than 6 feet away from him. Saw it again with the Spence fight. Derrick James and Errol Spence Jr. pushed that Crawford was too small, light in the ass, etc... for 4/5 years. Fight is finally made and Spence constantly answering journalists multiple questions on how he's going to defeat Terence with "I'm gonna break him".....That was the cliche for him and Derrick up til the week of the fight. Then Derrick starting highlighting Spence's passed injuries and how hard it was for him to stay at 147lbs for so long.... Like he was opening the door to allow excuses in, just in case his fighter couldn't get the job done...... Fast forward to today.....I feel I just saw a change of energy again with Madrimov's camp. Just thought it was ironic to still him come out of nowhere talking about fair judging.... Yea, I know some suspect judging has occurred in the sport for more often than one would have like, but it's just weird that they bring that up 48 hours prior to his bout vs Crawford. Especially when his and his camp's confidence was on him being a bigger, stronger, more athletic fighter. The confidence was that they would present a problem for Crawford that he wouldn't be able to handle.....Now the are talking about going 12 rounds with Crawford and Crawford getting a suspect win....... Did something happen in that face off after their grand arrivals?.....
Many times, the closer an event gets, the more real it feels. The doubts start to creep in and potential avenues of failure arise in the imagination. Hence the shift in the energy. Of course, it's up to us to shut that **** down when it starts coming up and get down to business.
Madrimov isn’t even near the same level as Crawford, and doesn’t have an effective “awkwardness” that past fighters have had who have overcome the odds… The promotion has done a good job of convincing people this is a good fight. Bud is gonna be timing this guy early and often. cool topic, and Terence’s quiet confidence does seem to make this happen more often..
Right. I would love to play Eddie Hearns in a game of poker. He is one of the main people trying to convince the public on something he knows isn't true. Hearns wants people to believe that Madrimov a level above Terence for this weekend, when he knows Crawford is different. It's the reason he went out and got the "great value" version of Crawford in Jaron Boots Ennis and is trying to make that Crawford's next fight.
