By Chris Williams: Kell Brook sees his opponent Terence Crawford as being chinny, and he doesn’t think he’s going to be able to hold up once he starts hitting him with his “chocolate brownies” on Saturday night.
Brook (39-2, 27 KOs) says WBO welterweight champion Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) isn’t human if he can take his best shots because he’s punching like a “mule” fright now.
Crawford had problems in his last fight absorbing the punches he was getting tagged with by Egidijus Kavaliauskas last year in December.
Terence, 33, hit the deck once in the fifth and was hurt several times by the hard shots from the two-time Lithuanian Olympian ‘Mean Machine’ Kavaliauskas (22-1-1, 18 KOs).
Crawford might have tasted defeat for the first time in his career if Kavaliauskas hadn’t gassed out in the midway pint in their fight. We saw from that contest that Crawford could be hurt, and he struggles when he has an opponent attacking him and not backing off.
Crawford is at his best when the guys he’s facing are gunshy and afraid to let their hands go.
Brook: Crawford isn’t human if he can take my power
“Fighting for the world title, fighting for the pound-for-pound title,” said Brook to Fighthype. “I’ve got to be on the ball from round one. I’m prepared for twelve rounds, one round at a time.
“And I’m going to be completely focused for 36 minutes if it goes that long. I’m going to do the job that I need to do on Terence Crawford. If he can take my shots on the chin, then he’s not human because I’m punching like a mule.
And if he likes those shots as he comes forward, wow, he’ll surprise me. If he does come to fight, we’ve got a war regardless. I think when he feels that power, he’s going to realize that I’m a serious welterweight.
“He’s not fighting a lightweight or a light-welterweight. He’s fighting a full-fledged welterweight, who has boxed at middleweight and light-middleweight,” said Brook.
Crawford won’t be able to hang in there for too long if Brook starts fast as he did against Gennady Golovkin and Errol Spence Jr and lands a lot of shots early.
Crawford doesn’t have the same chin that Spence and GGG possess, and he won’t be able to take the kinds of shots that they’d did.
If you’ve seen Crawford’s fights before, he doesn’t let his opponents land punches against him. If they start landing, Crawford will get on his bike and keep the action long to limit the punishment he absorbs.
Brook, 34, needs to be coming forward the entire fight if he wants to be able to land enough punches to hurt Crawford, and he may need to chase him. This fight could get ugly, like Crawford’s fights against Felix Diaz and Viktor Postol.
In these fights, Crawford moved a lot, jabbed, and stuck his tongue out to taunt his opponents. It was incredibly boring to watch, but
Crawford is “chinny,” says Brook
“Yeah,” Brook said when asked if he thinks Crawford is ‘chinny.’ “When he gets caught clean, his small legs are definitely going to feel the impact of what I’m bringing.
“The brownies are going to hit him. I’ve had it my whole career that no one has given me the full respect and recognition that I got. Maybe I’ve not shown them enough.
“I’m looking forward to it just for myself to see when I go through the gears, and I see all these gears that I know I possess come out in this fight,” said Brook.
I don’t know if you can call Crawford chinny in the real sense, but he clearly doesn’t have a great chin.
If you compare Crawford to some of the fighters like Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia, both of which can take a helluva shot, he’s nowhere near those guys. That’s why Crawford will likely be on his bicycle on Saturday night, avoiding exchanges with Brook at all costs.
You can expect Crawford to test Brook early to see what his power is like. If the power is too much for Crawford, he’ll make the fight ugly as he did against Viktor Postol.
Kell says he’s improved since Spence fights.
“I’m a better fighter now than when I boxed Spence,” Brook said. “You never stop learning, and I’ve learned a lot. My weights, I’ve ballooned up massively, and it’s all about making weight.
“I’ve been at a nice weight for a long time. For all the young fighters out there, you need to look after yourself between fights. It makes it so much easier.
“But when it does get easier, you make it harder, and your training becomes harder, and you’re pushing yourself. You have more in the tank, and you’ve got more fuel. You can get more out of yourself,” said Brook.
Kell is probably right when he says he’s improved since his contest with Errol Spence Jr in 2017. The reason for that is Brook came into the match against Spence, having lost a lot of weight during training camp.
He’d eaten too much before heading into the camp, which made it a glorified fat farm instead of a true cam.
Secondly, Brook was coming off an eye injury from his fight with Gennady Golovkin in 2016, and it was a mistake for him t face a dangerous puncher like Spence in his first fight back.
Brook is healthy now, and he didn’t take off a lot of weight during training camp to get down to the 147lb limit for the Crawford fight.
Brook must be his best to beat Terence
“I just have to turn up and be me,” Brook said when asked how he beat a counter-puncher like Crawford. “I’m a counter-puncher, and I’m sharp.
“Whoever I’m in front of, even the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, you see me turn up to that level with that guy that I’m in front of. This guy is going to bring the very best out of me.
“I’m going to need to be my best for me to beat this guy. Absolutely,” Kell said when asked if he’s the first fighter that can match Crawford’s athleticism and speed.
“It’s all about the mind, and my mind is focused. This fight proves that I’m the best fighter, and I deserve to be the best fighter and not just a champion.
“The best fighter in the world. I’ve prepared myself to perform and to show everybody. Yeah, this is the last roll of the dice, so you’re going to see the best I can be.
“It’s just talking,” said Brook about Crawford saying that he’s never quit like him. “We’re going to see who the best fighter is.”
Brook can still win even if he’s not at his best because he’s got the power, size, and experience to beat Crawford early. The lack of experience that Crawford ha could make it difficult to hang with Brook if he can fight at the level he did against Golovkin and Spence.
Yuriorkis Gamboa hurt Crawford, and he didn’t look good against Postol, Amir Khan, Jose Benavidez Jr, or Thomas Dulrorme.
Top Rank has done a good job of shielding Crawford’s inadequacies all these years by the way they’ve matched him against lesser fighters in each division he’s competed in.