“Should’ve Had Kendrick!”: Alycia Baumgardner, Eddie Hearn, and the Boxing World React with Mixed Feelings to Eminem’s Live Performance at Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov

Guess who’s back performing again ahead of the Terence Crawford boxing match? Hip-hop megastar Eminem was on stage performing at the BMO stadium ahead of the Terence Crawford vs Israil Madrimov boxing match. He performed his chart-topping hits like Rap God, Till I Collapse, Cinderella Man, and Lose Yourself to a sold-out stadium and had the crowd swaying to his tunes. In a moment, Crawford will be entering the ring with the hopes of becoming a four-division world champion. For the uninitiated, the legendary wordsmith is a big fan of Crawford and walked out alongside him last year in Las Vegas ahead of his stoppage win against Errol Spence Junior. He performed his hit single ‘Lose Yourself’ from the movie ‘8 Mile’ as he accompanied ‘Bud’ who was draped in a ‘fishing net’.

Crawford’s idea to choose Eminem for his ring walk came from his discussion with close friend Shakur Stevenson. Unsure about what his walkout would look like, Crawford latched onto the proposal floated by his mentee. “You know what I was thinking would be crazy s***? I think it would be dope to have Eminem walk me out or something like that.” the Newark native reportedly suggested. Crawford then went on to approach Eminem with the idea who agreed to the proposal. For the rap artist, it was a no-brainer as Crawford was one of his all-time favorite boxers.

Now, ahead of today’s main event, Marshall Bruce Mathers III shared a screenshot of the memorable night at the T-Mobile Arena last year where both superstars made an epic ring walk. Eminem shared it on his Instagram Story with the caption, “Hey champ, you ready to run it back tonight?”

The organizers picked a perfect warm-up gig today to excite the audience for the upcoming headliner bout. The legendary ring announcer Bruce Buffer welcomed Eminem. The rapper performed on stage wearing a hoodie, gold chain, and sagging trousers – a quintessential hip-hop look indeed! But his performance drew mixed reactions on X with some claiming that it was below par. Even the Undisputed super-featherweight champion Alycia Baumgardner was underwhelmed by the entire experience as she wished for another popular rap artist to perform at the event.

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Baumgardner took to X and wrote that rap artist Kendrick Lamar would have been a better alternative to Eminem for hyping up the crowd ahead of the main event.

The super-lightweight boxer Kenneth Sims Jr. didn’t like the idea of Eminem performing ahead of the main event of the night either.

Meanwhile, Israil Madrimov’s promoter Eddie Hearn, who was present at the event, tweeted that he along with the crowd was having an amazing time as Eminem belted out his bangers.

Another fan claimed that Eminem’s performance took them on a nostalgia trip back when he used to top the charts in the early 2000s.

Yet another fan was not impressed by the hip-hop megastar’s performance, stating that he killed the interest in the main event.

Did you like Eminem’s performance ahead of the showdown between Terence Crawford and Israil Madrimov? Which is your favorite number by the American rapper? Let us know.