Former world champion Kell Brook is going solo for the November showdown with WBO welterweight king Terence Crawford, according to veteran trainer Dominic Ingle.
Ingle, the longtime trainer of Brook, has revealed that he won't be training the twice-beaten boxer for his fight with Crawford, which is slated for November 14, in Las Vegas or Omaha.
Brook negotiated the deal on his own, says Ingle, indicating that promoter Eddie Hearn will not be involved in the event.
Brook is training in Spain. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Ingle was unwilling to travel.
“I’m the trainer. I’m not going to have anyone tell me how they want they want their camp running. Some fighters might do that but it’s never been that way with me. I stipulate how the camp is and what we’re going to do. If he’s not happy with that, then he can do it somewhere else," Ingle told IFL TV.
"Realistically, Kell doesn’t need to be anywhere else but Sheffield. Why would you take the risk? During these times, why would you take the risk to go abroad? He’s in a big fight with Crawford. Whether it’s an exercise in saving money or whatever it is, that’s down to him. I don’t know who is training him. We haven’t fallen out. We’re never going to fall out. He does his own thing. Like I say, he’s 34, he has three kids, he’s made his money. We’ve had a good run.
“Eddie has promoted him all this time. He’s not doing this fight with Eddie. He’s not doing this fight with his promoter, and he’s not doing this fight with his trainer. That’s fair enough. That’s not an issue. Eddie will still be promoting other fighters and I’ll still be training other fighters. We’ve all got jobs to do. You make your choices in what’s good for you. I can’t take the risk. What’s going on in this day and age with Covid, I can’t get caught up in all that. I’ve to keep away from it. For me, it wouldn’t be a wise choice. He’s got to travel to America, fair enough. I don’t want to get caught in quarantine somewhere. That’s how it is.”
I’ve just watched a video of John Fewkes (published in May) detailing his split with Kell Brook.
Fewkes claimed that the reason Brook delivered a poor performance in the Zerafa fight, was due to Kell’s admission for failing to listen to him and also refusing to implement the previously agreed game-plan.
Kell then gradually stopped turning up to Fewkes' gym, with his final training session in March 2019... and eventually returned to Brendan Ingle for the DeLuca bout.
So in terms of his preparation for the Crawford fight, Kell is either training himself or keeping the details of his new trainer under wraps.
I suspect it’s the former rather than the latter (based on Ingle's interview with SecondsOut). A simple cost-cutting exercise in order to allow Brook to keep an extra 10% of the final purse of his career.
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Cannot see any way that Brook can win this. A prime Brook would have been more competitive but the current version is massively up against it. Can see him getting stopped actually.
BigGar wrote: ↑13 Oct 2020, 16:42
Cannot see any way that Brook can win this. A prime Brook would have been more competitive but the current version is massively up against it. Can see him getting stopped actually.
No version of brook would ever beat Crawford. Brook, has spent his entire career beating stiffs. Look at his record apart from Spence, GGG, Porter and tell me what has he done to Justify all this hype?
I, never trained Properly until recently in his own words.
detamour wrote: ↑14 Oct 2020, 05:59I, never trained Properly until recently in his own words.
You're right. Kell recently admitted that he'd stopped training and ballooned up to more than 210lbs earlier on this year.
He's shifted all that excess weight now though, but we've all seen the permanent damage done to a veteran fighters' body that sort of lifestyle causes (as per Ricky Hatton's twilight years, such as the outcome of the Vyacheslav Senchenko fight).
And by all accounts, Kell isn't employing a trainer for the Crawford bout.
The last time Kell Brook defeated a universally recognised top-ten world-rated welterweight was 6½ years ago.
Brook hasn't won a bout at 147lbs for 4½ years.
The best we can optimistically hope for is for is Crawford being cagey and cautious at the start, creating the illusion during the first few rounds of Brook being competitive. In contrast, the reality is that the American is simply a slow starter.
But from the fourth round onwards, I expect Crawford to gain the winning momentum and beat up the Brit. Forcing a stoppage during the middle rounds, either due to the one-sided brutal nature of the bout or due to Brook’s eyes being swollen and beaten to a pulp.
Franco upset Moloney for the WBA “world” super flyweight title in June.
Terence Crawford’s November 14th clash with Kell Brook will have some strong support, as ESPN reports that Joshua Franco’s contractually mandated rematch with Andrew Moloney will serve as the co-feature.
“There wasn’t any other thought in his head,” said Tony Tolj, who manages both Andrew and his brother, bantamweight title contender Jason Moloney. “He just had the tunnel vision to go straight into that fight because he was just so disappointed in himself and there were some factors with a couple of injuries in that fight — but you never like to make excuses with injuries. That’s part and parcel with this game.”
Franco (17-1-2, 8 KO), previously known for his 2018 upset loss to Lucas Leone and highly entertaining trilogy with Oscar Negrete, was a sizable underdog when he first met Moloney (21-1, 14 KO) in June; only Scott was crazy enough to call a Franco win, and even he admitted it was more of a gut feeling than anything. Then he went and thoroughly overpowered Moloney as the fight progressed, dashing the latter’s hopes of challenging Roman Gonzalez for the “super” version of the title.
Moloney immediately exercised his rematch clause, so here we are.
I’m mentioned my opposition to immediate rematches many times over, but I can’t imagine their second meeting being any less entertaining than the first. It’ll definitely be more competitive than the main event, at least.
detamour wrote: ↑14 Oct 2020, 05:59I, never trained Properly until recently in his own words.
You're right. Kell recently admitted that he'd stopped training and ballooned up to more than 210lbs earlier on this year.
He's shifted all that excess weight now though, but we've all seen the permanent damage done to a veteran fighters' body that sort of lifestyle causes (as per Ricky Hatton's twilight years, such as the outcome of the Vyacheslav Senchenko fight).
And by all accounts, Kell isn't employing a trainer for the Crawford bout.
The last time Kell Brook defeated a universally recognised top-ten world-rated welterweight was 6½ years ago.
Brook hasn't won a bout at 147lbs for 4½ years.
The best we can optimistically hope for is for is Crawford being cagey and cautious at the start, creating the illusion during the first few rounds of Brook being competitive. In contrast, the reality is that the American is simply a slow starter.
But from the fourth round onwards, I expect Crawford to gain the winning momentum and beat up the Brit. Forcing a stoppage during the middle rounds, either due to the one-sided brutal nature of the bout or due to Brook’s eyes being swollen and beaten to a pulp.
Poor Kell will be brutally beaten, then make excuses once again...
The Terence Crawford-Kell Brook fight finally was announced Saturday night.
Crawford and Brook agreed to terms last month for their 12-round welterweight title fight November 14, but it wasn’t made official until it was confirmed during ESPN’s broadcast of the Vasiliy Lomachenko-Teofimo Lopez lightweight title unification fight. The site of the Crawford-Brook card wasn’t announced during the broadcast, but it is expected to take place within the Top Rank/ESPN “Bubble” at MGM Grand Conference Center.
All of the Top Rank shows ESPN has aired or streamed from the United States since June 9 have been held at MGM Grand Conference Center due to COVID-19 restrictions. Promoter Bob Arum, whose company represents Crawford, considered bringing the Crawford-Brook bout to Omaha, Nebraska, Crawford’s hometown, but Arum and the rest of Top Rank’s decision-makers think it is safer for the fighters and everyone else involved to hold it at MGM Grand.
ESPN will televise the Crawford-Brook card live. The network also aired the Lomachenko-Lopez show live Saturday night.
Crawford, 33, will defend his WBO welterweight title against England’s Brook. The 34-year-old Brook, a former IBF welterweight champ, has not weighed in lower than 150 pounds for any of his three fights since Errol Spence Jr. (26-0, 21 KOs) stopped him in the 11th round of their 12-round, 147-pound championship match in May 2017 in Sheffield, England, Brook’s hometown.
Brook (39-2, 27 KOs) is willing to go back down to the welterweight limit of 147 pounds for the opportunity to become a two-time champion against one of the top three boxers, pound-for-pound, in the sport.
Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs), of Omaha, Nebraska, will fight for the first time in almost a year. The three-division champion hasn’t boxed since he knocked down Lithuania’s Egidijus Kavaliauskas (22-1-1, 18 KOs) three times and stopped him in the ninth round December 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
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“You’re running out of opponents,” Brook responded. “I’m here.”
Brook said, “I would just like to say a big thank you to Bob Arum and his team at Top Rank and to Baz Kandiara and my management team for getting the fight made. Thank you also to Terence Crawford and his team. It’s a fantastic fight, a proper fight for the fans to get excited about. I’m sure it’s one that will have viewers on the edge of their seats, whichever side of the pond they’re from.
“I’ve been told there are people writing off my chances, questioning my age, and my ability to make the weight. Well, let them talk. Some people focus on reading headlines, I focus on making headlines. Those people writing me off as a big underdog? No problem. I guess this big dog will be making a few people richer during a difficult time.
“Terence isn’t too much younger than me. They know that I’ve never ducked a challenge, and they should know that I’ve never failed to make 147 on the scales. With age comes experience. My knowledge and experience make me a different fighter, a more mature fighter. Couple that with a happy fighter, and you’ve got yourself a dangerous fighter.”
Carl Froch feels that Kell Brook is cashing out against Terence Crawford in their fight on November 14th, and he has nothing left after being broken by Gennady Golovkin in 2016.
Former super middleweight champion Froch thinks it was a mistake for Brook (39-2, 27 KOs) to move up from 147 to 160 to challenge world champion Golovkin for his titles in September 2016. Froch says Brook should have never taken the fight with Golovkin, even though it was a great payday for him.
Brook gave it a good go despite suffering a freak eye injury in the second round. In the fifth, Brook was stopped by GGG. Kell’s eye injury was a situation where he got hit by a punch that hit the wrong spot.
It’s not that Golovkin hit him with a huge shot to do the damage. It was an average punch, and nowhere near the kind that the Kakzahstan fighter is capable of throwing. It was just a situation where Brook got hit with the tip of Golovkin’s glove in a spot on his eye that caused the fracture of his orbital bone.
Froch: Brook was broken by Golovkin
“I think it’s probably too late for Kell Brook, unfortunately,” said Carl Froch to Sporting Radio. “I think the loss to Gennady Golovkin and Errol Spence left some damage that he’ll never recover and he’s never recovered from, especially the GGG fight.
GGG was too big and too strong for him. And that’s maybe a fight that you look back in hindsight that maybe he shouldn’t have taken. Him and his training team and the promotional team thought it was the right fight at the right time.
“He was trying to get the Amir Khan fight and then all of a sudden he announced that he was fighting GGG,” Froch said about Brook’s 2016 contest against Golovkin. “I thought it was a stupid decision, to be honest.
“I don’t think that was the right decision by Kell Brook, and it pretty much destroyed his career moving forward because of the injury and because he’s a magnificent talent. I’ve sparred him.
“His speed and his skill set and natural ability is phenomenal. He’s such a great fighter. But you can break something inside a boxer, something you can never get back, and I think Golovkin did that to Brook. It’s such a shame,” said Froch.
Many boxing fans would disagree with Froch that the eye injury that Brook suffered against GGG is what ruined his career. What really hurt former IBF welterweight champion Brook’s career was the inactivity after he chose to move up to 154 in 2018.
After Brook blasting out Sergey Rabchenko in a tune-up fight in 2018 at 154, he never stepped it up after that fight. Brook take another soft fight against Michael Zerafa, and stayed out of the ring for over a year before fighting Mark DeLuca in 2019.
Brook lost motivation for his career after moving up to 154, and he doesn’t seem like his heart was ever in it to fight in that weight class.
Carl gives Brook a chance of beating Terence
“Terence Crawford is a great fight, but Terence Crawford is not messing around. He’s a top fighter,” Froch continued. “I think it’s going to be his last fight, Kell Brook. And I think it’s him cashing out,” said Froch.
“I don’t think crowds or lack of crowds will play a big factor for either fighter,” said Froch of the Crawford vs. Brook bout.
“I think Kell will do what he does best. I’m not totally writing him off, but against someone like Terence Crawford, who is very good and exceptional, Kell Brook was exceptional in his day.
“He’s past his best, and I think this is going to be a test too far. It’s a great fight. I want to watch it, and I love Kell Brook. I want him to pull it off, but I just can’t see it,” said Froch.
Brook has an excellent chance of beating Crawford because he’s finally motivated properly for the first time since his matches against Golovkin and Errol Spence.
Bob Arum says the UK fans will be able to watch the Terence Crawford vs. Kell Brook fight live on November 14th, possibly on FITE TV at less than half-price of what they would normally pay for pay-per-view.
Arum is still trying to work a deal with BT Sport and Sky to have one of those two networks to show the Crawford-Brook fight.
But if neither of them chooses to show the fight in the UK, then Arum is convinced FITE TV will show it. They’re the company that showed last Saturday’s fight between Teofimo Lopez and Vasily Lomachenko to UK boxing fans.
Brook will give Crawford a tough fight
“It’s a good fight. Kell Brook is an elite fighter, and he’s shown that. He’s beaten Shawn Porter,” said Arum to IFL TV on Terence Crawford’s next fight. “
He’s going to give Terence a run for his money. I think it’s a really good fight. I’ve been talking to Kell Brook’s people for months now, and they believe they can win the title.
“Talking to ESPN, it’s going to get the same treatment in the United States as the Loma-Lopez fight just got. So we think it’s going to be a huge fight of millions of sports fan watching the [Crawford vs. Brook] fight on November 14th,” Arum said.
Brook (39-2, 27 KOs) is sparring with the capable Conor Benn in preparing for the fight with the unbeaten WBO welterweight champion Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs). Benn should give the 34-year-old Brook some good work to him get ready for Crawford.
Arum is not surprised Sky hasn’t picked up Crawford-Brook
“I believe Brook is scheduled to come over here at the end of this week. No, because it’s a monopoly,” Arum said when asked if he’s surprised that Sky Sports aren’t showing the Crawford vs. Brook fight in the UK.
“Eddie [Hearn] has a budget, and he’s not going to use his budget on his non-fights. Sky is in it not to support boxing, but to see what money it can grab out of boxing out of pay-per-view. They’re not looking to invest in the sport the way ESPN is.
“If that’s where we have to go with the Brook fight, then that’s what we’ll do,” said Arum about Top Rank potentially showing Crawford vs. Brook on FITE TV in the UK.
“You will see it [in the UK] because if we can’t make a deal with BT or Sky, then we’re happy to do it with FITE TV, and it’s at half price at what they usually pay for pay-per-view.
It’s less than half price,” said Arum on the Crawford-Brook fight being shown in the UK.
As you can tell, Arum doesn’t sound too pleased with Sky Sports. But hopefully, the Crawford vs. Brook fight will be shown in the UK by one of these platforms on November 14.
Kell Brook is upset that Sky Sports and his old promoter Eddie Hearn chose not to pick up his November 14th fight against WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford.
Brook (39-2, 27 KOs) points out that Hearn and Sky Sports show non-title fights involving Dereck Chisora vs. Oleksandr Usyk and Dillian Whyte vs. Alexander Povetkin on pay-per-view. Yet, they won’t be showing him facing WBO 147-lb champion Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) on November 14th.
Kell, 34, says he bailed Hearn out in 2016 when he stepped up and took the fight against middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin. Brook says always been with Sky, and he was hoping that they would show his fight with Crawford.
They won’t be, unfortunately, and it’s expected to be shown instead on FITE TV in the UK.
Brook not worried about being the underdog
“Why not? I’m an elite fighter. Look at [Teofimo] Lopez. Everyone wrote him off, and he upset the odds and beat the pound-for-pound #1 in Loma,” Kell Brook said to IFL TV when asked why he thinks he’ll beat Crawford.
“I’m going to do the same. During the lockdown, all I’ve wanted to do is train. My weight hasn’t been blowing up as it used to in my early years. This is probably the easiest I’ve made welterweight.
“I’m not worried about making 147. A big factor in the early years was the IBF. Their 10-pound rehydration clause. But with the WBO, I weigh-in at 147, and there’s no check-weight in the morning. The weight can be whatever it wants to be in the morning. So that’s off my mind.
“I’m self-motivated, and that’s the main thing. I see people writing me off, and that’s bringing the very best out of me. I’ve been training for four months hard, and I’ve done everything that was asked of me,” said Brook.
Kell is the underdog against Crawford, but he’s motivated to show his doubters that they were wrong to pick against him.
Brook is ready to rip Crawford’s WBO 147-lb title away from him to become a two-time welterweight champion on November 14th.
Kell talks Hearn and Sky
“All he [Eddie Hearn] had to do was get on the phone and call Uncle Bob [Arum], but he was more interested in earning 2-bob,” said Brook when asked his thoughts about Sky Sports not picking up his fight with Crawford to show in the UK.
“He was more interested in signing books. That’s what’s happening with Eddie Hearn. I got him out of jail with the Golovkin fight with the pay-per-view slot. I saved the day again.
I’ve always been a Sky Sports fighter. And I’ve been in with Porter and Spence, Golovkin. I’ve had some amazing nights with Sky Sports. I want to give back to the fans that subscribe to Sky Sports, my fans to see me fight against the pound-for-pound king Crawford.
“To take that title from him. Eddie is having these pay-per-view fights with not even a title on the line. Chisora-Usyk, Whyte-Povetkin, those are great fights. But Brook-Crawford, come on, man.
“We’re more than entitled to have that fight there for the fans. The fact is, it’s going to be on TV. I would have loved for it to be on Sky, but there you do,” said Brook.
It will be exciting to see what the reaction will be from Hearn and Sky Sports if Brook can defeat Crawford. Will Brook be given the red carpet treatment by Sky Sports and Hearn, or will his future fights be passed over by them?
I actually like the fight based on "what if" scenarios and feel Crawford could have done worse picking a opponent.
If Brook has something left in the tank and can make 147 comfortably, we have a good fight on our hands. Brook is easily the most skilled and multi faceted opponent Crawford has faced if Brook has something left in the tank. I personally have never seen the signs that Brook is shot, I've seen the signs that his face doesn't take a beating well, but no signs that he's shot as a fighter and has had this huge decline in skills, speed, power etc..
Even in Brooks losing efforts against GGG and Spence, he made a pretty good account of himself (possibly even banking more rounds than Spence and took some rounds against GGG in a gutsy manner) until being stopped due to his facial injuries.
I personally feel Brook should be well rested and healthier than he was against Spence and have a better chance against Crawford than he did GGG because he's not giving up such a considerable size disadvantage.
Like I said, I like the fight based on the "what if" theory. I feel Brook can test Crawford's skills more than anyone else he's faced if he's near the same form he was against Spence or GGG. Also if his face doesn't bust up the same since he's given himself ample time for his injuries to heal properly.
With that being said I feel Crawford still pulls off a victory and possibly even stops Brook, but I'm not so sure it's going to be a easy walk in the park like alot seem to think it will be.
