LOS ANGELES -- The secret to solving Terence Crawford, said Joel Diaz, who trains the now-former WBA junior middleweight champion, Ismail Madrimov, was the body.
"Nobody ever tests him to the body," Diaz told ESPN the other night. "But we're going there every chance we get. Crawford throws that southpaw jab, we're throwing a right to the body. He throws it orthodox, Israil's going down there with a straight right."
And as it began, Madrimov -- of Indio, California, by way of Uzbekistan -- was faithful to the trainer's counsel. But fighters as good as Madrimov and Crawford -- still one of the best in the world despite the toughest and closest night of his still undefeated career -- discern other openings as the fight evolves.