Terence Crawford and Kell Brook have reportedly agreed to a deal to battle it out on November 14 on ESPN. Crawford-Brook will occur either at ‘The Bubble’ at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, or in Omaha, Nebraska. Mike Coppinger broke the news on the Crawford-Brook deal being agreed on.
Fans are going to find out if Crawford is for real or not on November 14. If he struggles to beat Brook or if he loses, then you have to conclude that Crawford was a product of the soft match-making done by his promoters.
Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn hasn’t said anything about the deal being done with Crawford, so we’ll have to wait for him to make it official.
In terms of punching power and talent, Brook is easily the best fighter that the 32-year-old Crawford will have faced during his 12-year-old pro career. Crawford is turning 33 next Monday, and this may be as good as it gets for him in defending against Brook.
With Crawford signed with Top Rank, it walls off any chance of him fighting most of the Premier Boxing Champions [PBF] fighters.
It was Crawford’s idea to try and stage the fight in his hometown of Omaha, but that’s not something that Brook will be happy about. Kell (39-2, 27 KOs) wants to fight Crawford in Las Vegas, and he’s already excited about that.
The unbeaten Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) will have his WBO welterweight title on the line when he defends it against former IBF 147-lb champion Brook, who hasn’t fought in this weight class since 2017.
Brook, 34, has been fighting at junior middleweight since 2018. He moved up in weight to the division following his 11th round knockout loss to Errol Spence Jr in 2017. Brook moved up in weight to 154 because it was hard for him to make the 147lb limit, but he looks too small for that division.
147 is probably the better weight class for Brook than for him to be competing against much bigger fighters at 154. Brook hasn’t fought anyone of note since he moved up in weight.
He’s been taking tune-up fights for the last two years and calling out Amir Khan with no luck. It’s unclear if Brook lost some of his love for the sport after his consecutive losses to Gennadiy Golovkin and Spence in 2016 and 2017.
Brook suffered eye injuries in both of those defeats, and you can’t blame him if he’s been in a hurry to take any additional risks in the last two years.
Few boxing fans are giving Brook any chance of beating Crawford, considering his inactivity, history of eye injuries, weight, and his age. For some reason, people view Brook as an older guy, but he’s only a year older than Crawford.
You can’t rule out an upset win for brook in this fight because he’s got significant power, and he’s fought better opposition than Crawford. Brook has already been tested in his battles against Gennady Golovkin, Errol Spence, and Shawn Porter. Brook beat Porter, and he was on his way to defeating GGG and Spence when he suffered his eye injuries.
In Crawford’s case, no one knows whether he’s as good as people say because he hasn’t fought anyone at 147 or 140. In both of those weight classes, Crawford was never tested by anyone.
Unfortunately, Crawford moved up to 147 without fighting Josh Taylor, Jose Ramirez, or Regis Prograis. And since he’s been at 147, Crawford has been fighting these guys: Jeff Horn, Amir Khan, Jose Benavidez Jr, and Egidijus Kavaliauskas.
Brook has fought only three times since moving up to 154, and he’s not exactly lit up the world with his level of opposition.
Kell’s last three opponents:
Sergey Rabchenko
Michael Zerafa
Mark DeLuca
Brook could have been involved in many exciting fights, but he’s failed to take them. Kell could have taken on top junior middleweights like Jermell Charlo, Jarrett Hurd, Julian Williams, and Erislandy Lara. Still, he’s been content to fight the fighters from the above list.
Brook should have tested himself by now at 154 because if he had failed, he could have moved back down to 147 a long time ago.
Thoughts?
