By Chris Williams: Former welterweight champion Kell Brook is hoping Terence Crawford is overlooking him on November 14th because he’s going to be in for a “rude awakening” when he gets inside the ring with him.
Brook (39-2, 27 KOs) says he’s in great shape after training for ten weeks, and he’s ready to dethrone the highly rated pound-for-pound fighter Crawford.
Former IBF 147-pound champion Brook and WBO welterweight champ Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) will be fighting on ESPN in ‘The Bubbe’ at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The start time for the Crawford-Brook event is at 7:00 p.m. ET.
WBA World super flyweight champion Joshua Franco squares off with Andrew Moloney in a rematch in the co-feature bout.
Crawford, 33, is fighting for the first time since scoring a ninth-round knockout over #1 WBO Egidijus Kavaliauskas last December.
Terence would have liked to have fought some of the Premier Boxing Champions [PBC] welterweights, but the only available to fight him was Shawn Porter. Still, he, for whatever reason, elected not to take on the dangerous ex-IBF champion.
Porter wanted that fight with Crawford in a big way, but it wasn’t to be. Crawford chose not to go in that direction, and you can understand why.
Brook hopes Crawford takes him lightly
“You’re going to see what I’ve got left in two weeks, and trust me, I’ve got plenty left,” Kell Brook said to Morning Kombat. “I’m ready to rock and roll.
“I’ve got plenty,” Brook said when asked if he has any ‘Chocolate brownies’ to give to Crawford on November 14th. “I’m going to get them out of the cooker and put some extra sugar on them, brown sugar, and then I’m going to be ready to take the man out.
“I hope so because if he [Crawford] takes me lightly, he’s in for a rude awakening on the 14th, trust me, because I’m coming to bring it,” Kell said when asked if he thinks Terence thinks he’s not the same fighter that gave Gennady Golovkin and Errol Spence Jr problems in 2016 and 2017.
“I’m bringing it heavily,” Brook continued. “I’ve done everything asked of me training. I’m ready, super-fit, and super strong, and I’m ready to dethrone the pound-for-pound king in boxing. I’m ready,” said Kell.
Crawford isn’t taking Brook lightly because he knows this is the best fighter he’s ever fought before during his career, which says a lot about how he’s been matched.
Terence knows that he hasn’t fought anyone super talented yet, and Brook is a huge step up for him in class.
Terence has the pressure on him
“The pressure is on Terence. He’s not fought anyone like me,” said Brook. “I’m a guy that has fought at middleweight against Golovkin. These guys here [Brook points to his right bicep], these brownies are coming hard, brother.
“He’s got to show me he’s great,” Brook said of Crawford. “I’ve heard that he’s super great, but he’s got to show me. I’ve seen him. He does everything really well. I can’t sit here and say he does anything bad, but I’m that guy to dethrone him.
With him being a switch-hitter, the stable I came up with Prince Naseem and Brendon Ingle with the switch-hitting style; when Terence comes in and switches it during the fight, it won’t bamboozle me because I’m used to seeing that all day long in the Ingle school where I was brought up.
“I can surprise him with the power,” Kell said of Crawford. “I’ve got great balance, great accuracy, great jab, and he knows this is a real fight. He knows that” Kell said.
Crawford does have the pressure on him in this fight because of the perception, right or wrong, that Brook is over-the-hill.
That’s unfortunate for Crawford, given that Brook may be the same fighter that was getting the better of Gennady Golovkin and Errol Spence Jr. What that means is that Crawford will be seen as a product of hype if he loses to Brook. It’ll be hard to argue against that belief.
It’ll be a good lesson for fans. When someone is being promoted as the best fighter in boxing, as Top Rank has been doing with Crawford, you need to look at his resume and ask yourself, ‘Who has he actually beaten?’
Crawford’s best career wins:
- Jeff Horn
- Jose Benavidez Jr
- Ricky Burns
- John Molina Jr
- Viktor Postol
- Amir Khan
- Egidijus Kavaliauskas
- Yuriorkis Gamboa
- Julius Indongo
- Thomas Dulorme
If you follow boxing, you’ll know those are not great fighters, none of them. All those fighters are guys that Brook would likely beat without any problems at all. That’s why it’s important to look at a fighter’s resume when they’re heavily promoted the way Top Rank has been doing with Crawford.
The only thing we know about Crawford is, he’s been matched carefully against B-level fighters since he turned pro in 2008, and he’s still a question mark in terms of his talent.
Kell’s eyes let him down against Golovkin and Spence
“My eye let me down, and I wasn’t in training camp when I should have,” Brook said about why he lost to Errol Spence. “I’m not a fighter that gives excuses. “The eye was a big factor.
“In my fight before, I got the same injury against Golovkin. I remember looking through the ropes; we invited the surgeon who did my eye to the fight, and I remember going back to my corner, and you could see the problem with the eye.
“It was the same injury that appeared on the other side of the face, and I was looking over the corner, and he [the surgeon] was nodding his head saying, ‘no, don’t do it.’ Obviously, I’ve got that big heart of mine.
“It just got to me in the end, the eye, the weight, and everything eye. And it just wasn’t right. If we [Brook and Spence] did it again, it would be a different story, but let’s sort Terence out first,” continued Brook.
Before Brook suffered his eye injuries against Spence and Golovkin, he was getting the better of them. Even after the eye injuries, Brook was still doing a number on both of them.
When Brook got hurt against Golovkin, he was hit in the wrong spot in his eye in the second round. It wasn’t a big shot. It was the wrong spot with Brook bent forward in a vulnerable position.
Without those injuries occurring, Brook likely would have beaten Golovkin and Spence and would be in a much different place compared to where it is today.
So instead of Brook being the underdog going into his November 14th fight against Crawford, he would be the favorite. It’s weird how injuries can change a person’s fate inside the ring.
Kell created the blueprint to defeat Golovkin
“I believe so,” Brook said when asked if he created the blueprint on how to beat Golovkin, which Canelo Alvarez followed later. “A little welterweight like me jumped up to middleweight, and I backed him up.
“I did show the blueprint Everybody, even Daniel Jacobs mentioned it on the 24/7. I stood up and did what I did. What a fight it was,” said Brook.
It’s fair to say that Brook DID creates the blueprint for defeating middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. In their fight in 2016, Brook continually backed the bigger fighter Golovkin up and landed uppercuts to the head of him.
What was impressive about what Brook did in that fight was getting the better of Golovkin even after he suffered an eye injury in the second round. Brook was fighting with one good eye and still getting the better of GGG.
Since then, Daniel Jacobs, Canelo Alvarez, and Sergiy Derevyanchenko followed Brook’s blueprint to give Golovkin major problems.
If Brook defeats Crawford, it would be a good idea for him to press for a rematch with Golovkin and show that he can beat him when he’s 100% for the fight. It’s doubtful that the 38-year-old GGG will agree to a second fight with Brook because he struggles now that fighters know how to beat him.
And it’s not the age that is causing Golovkin problems. It’s the blueprint that Brook created that is giving Golovkin issues. Everyone knows how to beat him now, thanks to Brook, and they’re using his blueprint each time to create a nightmare for him.
Kell with new trainer
“Carlos Pimento is a great trainer,” Brook said of his new trainer. “We’ve been together for ten weeks. He’s been obsessed with Terence Crawford, watching his fights. I don’t generally watch fights, but he’s made me watch Terence.
“He’s made me watch the guy I’m fighting. I’ve never really watched the guy I’m fighting. I just adapt when I get in there and listen to the trainer. He’s been writing everything down what he’s seen, and what I can expose.
“He’s obsessive about this fight. I know I got a good team around me, and the main thing is I’m 100% focused mentally and physically. I’m ready to go in there and give it my all, and I believe I’ll become a world champion.
“I can’t put it into words what it’ll be like,” said Brook when asked how he’ll feel if he defeats Crawford. “To beat the pound-for-pound fighter, the best fighter in the world, to become a two-time world champion,” Kell said.
A lot has been made about Brook switching out his old trainer Dominic Ingle for a new coach, but it was time for a change to be made. You can argue that Brook was stuck in a rut with Ingle and not progressing the way he needed for him to get back to the top.
With the new trainer, Brook will have a fresh outlook, and he’ll have a better chance at beating Crawford and regaining his former position as the #1 welterweight on the planet.
Crawford says Brook has everything to gain
“He has everything to gain and nothing to really lose,” Crawford said on social media. “In those types of moments, it wakes up a different animal and beast in a person. I’m preparing for the best Kell Brook we could possibly prepare for.”
Crawford has a lot to lose in this fight with Brook because he needs a win to stay in the hunt for a unification match against IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr.
Losing to Brook, who some boxing fans feel is on the downside of his career, would hurt Crawford. It would reinforce the view that many fans have about Crawford’s past success was due to careful match-making done by his promoters at Top Rank.
To this day, Crawford still hasn’t fought an elite welterweight, 140, or 135-pounder during his career.
Well, it’s true that Brook, 34, does have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Brook has slowed down his career by moving up to 154 in 2018 and fighting only rarely against lower-level opposition.
Brook has fought just three times since his loss to Spence in 2017, and those fights were against these fringe contenders:
- Sergey Rabchenko
- Michael Zerafa
- Mark DeLuca
What’s obvious is that Brook hasn’t fancied the idea of him competing at 154, and that has obviously played a huge part in his decision to fight rarely. What Brook should have done is return to the welterweight division right away in 2018, and go after Spence, Manny Pacquiao, Danny Garcia, and Keith Thurman.
By now, Brook would have likely become a world champion again, as his size, power, and talent made him one of the best in the weight class.
