By Charles Brun: Kell Brook said he spoke to both Terence Crawford and his promoter Bob Arum and they’re both interested in making the fight. If the fight gets made, former IBF 147lb champ Brook (39-2, 27 KOs) will be battling the unbeaten Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) for his WBO welterweight title.
Brook is hoping that Crawford will agree to fight him in his own backyard in the 32,000 seat stadium in Bramhall Lane Football Grounds in Sheffield, UK. This is where Brook lost his IBF welterweight title three years ago to Errol Spence Jr. by an 11th round knockout in a fight that was competitive.
Brook has the power to give Crawford problems
With Brook’s punching power, size and talent, he has an excellent shot at dethroning Crawford. Immediately upon that fight being made, Brook would be by far the best opponent that Crawford will have faced. That’s the main criticize boxing fans have about the Nebraska native.
Crawford hasn’t fought the elite level fighters, and yet he’s been crowned as the #1 welterweight in the division by some people. Brook could expose Crawford. Well, at the very least, Brook will show whether Crawford deserves all the kudos he’s been getting in the last 12 years.
Brook wants to fight Crawford in Sheffield
Early on, Brook had his way with the American Spence, but the fight turned around in the second half. That’s when Kell suffered an eye injury, which made it difficult for him to see clearly. Spence then took full advantage of Brook’s injury and battered him until he took a knee in the 11th and was stopped.
It’s still early yet to know when Brook, 33, and Crawford will be able to fight. Any fights that scheduled now could be put on hold for an undisclosed period.
“I’ve heard them talk about Britain,” said to skysports.com. “We’ll have to wait. Bob Arum said to me, he likes the sound of Britain. Bramall Lane. It would be fantastic.”
For Crawford and Arum to agree to taking the Brook fight to Sheffield, it would show that they’re 100% confident of victory. That’s the ONLY reason why they would be willing to give Kell hometown advantage.
If there was any doubt in the minds of Arum and Crawford about whether they would win, they would insist on staging the fight in the United States.
Kell spoke to Arum on Crawford fight
“I basically went over and said: ‘You’re running out of opponents for Crawford and I’m the guy to beat him. I’m here,'” said Brook about him talking to Arum recently. “I saw Terence Crawford, he said he was ready for it, so everybody is on the same page,” said Brook.
They’ll need to negotiate this fight to make it happen. To be sure, Brook won’t take the fight on the cheap. He’s a big name in the UK, and his boxing fans will be the ones that will fill Bramhall Lane if the fight gets made.
The fight will need to make sense financially for Brook to agree to take it, considering that he’s got other options for nice paydays besides Crawford. Amir Khan is still out there, and you never know when he’ll decide that he’s ready to fight Kell.
Arum hasn’t mentioned any other names for Crawford to fight other than Brook, Spence and Conor McGregor. The Top Rank promoter said he’d like to match Crawford against UFC star Conor McGregor in a 2-fight deal in which one fight takes place in the octagon and the other inside a boxing ring. McGregor, 31, hasn’t taken the hook, unfortunately, and it doesn’t appear that match will happen.
Spence still hasn’t fought since his car crash on October 10, and he’s not talking of wanting to fight Crawford in his first fight back. If the Spence-Crawford fight does take place, it’ll be in Errol’s second or third bout back from the crash.
Kell needs to lose weight
Brook will need to lose a lot of weight for him to make the 147-lb limit to fight Crawford. Kell hasn’t fought at 147 since his loss to Spence in 2017, and he’s not been all that active in the last 3 years. Since Brook moved up to 154 in 2018, he’s beaten these fighters:
- Sergey Rabchenko
- Michael Zerafa
- Mark DeLuca
