Terence Crawford vs. Kell Brook agreed for Nov.14 on ESPN

By Boxing News - 09/24/2020 - Comments

By Chris Williams:  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.

Brook hasn’t fought at 147 since 2017

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.

Image: Terence Crawford vs. Kell Brook agreed for Nov.14 on ESPN

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.

No one giving Brook any shot against Crawford

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.

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“SOURCES: Terence Crawford and Kell Brook have agreed to a deal for a Nov. 14 welterweight title fight on ESPN. The bout could land in Top Rank’s “bubble” in Las Vegas but Omaha, Nebraska, where Crawford is a big draw, is also being explored,” said @MikeCoppinger.

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.

Is Crawford as good as people believe him to be?

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6hvoKJvLmM

The biggest problem confronting Brook is for him to cut down to 147 for the fight. For Brook to get down that low, he’s likely going to need to lose muscle weight because he’s not carrying around a lot of fans to take off for him to down to 147.

Brook is too heavy for him to drain all water to make the limit. He has no choice but to lose muscle weight, and that’s going to leave him weaker for the fight.

It would be a nice gesture on Crawford’s part if he were to agree to meet Brook at a catchweight of 150 pounds to meet him halfway. At least by doing that, Craword will receive credit from the boxing world if he beats Brook.

If Crawford beats Brook with him coming down to 147, then the fans will say that the only reason Terence won is that Kell was weight drained.

Kell wants to prove doubters wrong

Brook disagrees with the many boxing fans that say he’s over-the-hill, as he feels he’s not taken any beat beatings in any of his fights. The problem that Brook has is he hasn’t fought anyone good enough in the last two years for him to counter the critics have about him being past it.

Image: Terence Crawford vs. Kell Brook agreed for Nov.14 on ESPN

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.

The version of Brook that fought Golovkin and Spence will be too much for Crawford on November 14. Brook is too strong, too rugged, and also experienced for Crawford to deal with. But we don’t know how much deterioration has occurred with Brook since those fights with Spence and GGG.

If Brook is 80% of what he once was, he till beats Crawford, but if Kell is below that, then he might lose.