By Mark Eisner: WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) retained his title in stopping former IBF 147-lb champion Kell Brook (39-3, 27 KOs) in the fourth round on Saturday night on ESPN in ‘The Bubble’ at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Crawford hurt Brook with a left hook in the fourth and then flurried until the contest was stopped. Brook had gotten the better of Crawford in the first three rounds, but he got caught in the fourth.
Early results:
- Duke Regan UD 4 Sebastian Gutierrez (1-1, 1 KO). Scores: 40-35, 40-35, and 40-35
- Vegas Larfield (2-0, 2 KOs) TKO 3 TKO Juan Alberto Flores (2-1-1, 0 KOs)
- Raymond Muratalla (11-0, 9 TKO 3 Luis Porozo (15-5, 8 KOs)
- Tyler Howard (20-0, 11 KOs) UD 8 KeAndrae Leatherwood (22-8-1, 13 KOs)
- Joshua Greer Jr. (22-2-2, 12 KOs) and Edwin Rodriguez (11-5-2, 5 KOs) fought to an eight-round majority draw. Scores were 77-75 Rodriquez, 76-76, and 76-76.
- Raymond Muratalla (11-0, 9 KOs) stopped Luis Porozo (15-5, 8 KOs) in the third round.
- Joshua Franco (17-1-2, 8 KOs) lucked out in holding onto his WBA World super flyweight title after his fight with challenger Andrew Moloney (21-1, 14 KOs) was ruled a no-decision after two rounds. Franco suffered an injured right eye from a head-butt. At least what they ruled. In looking at it on replay, there didn’t appear to be a clash of heads. It was lucky for Franco, as he got worked over by Moloney in two rounds of the fight. The contest was stopped before the third. It’ll be interesting to see if the two fighters schedule a third fight.
Preview: Crawford needs an impressive win
Unbelievably, Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) is stepping up for the first time in his 12-year career against his first popular opponent. Despite capturing world titles in three weight classes, Crawford has never fought an opponent with any degree of popularity.
Crawford is the favorite in this fight, but he can’t overlook the bigger, stronger Brook, who can punch. The last time Crawford fought a slugger, he was almost knocked out by Yuriorkis Gamboa in 2014. That’s been that long since Crawford faced a true slugger.
You can’t count ‘Mean Machine’ Egidijus Kavaliauskas because he’s only knocked out 75% of his opponents, and he’s not a huge puncher.
Tonight, that all changes when Crawford takes on former IBF welterweight champion Brook (39-2, 27 KOs) in the headliner for this Top Rank boxing card behind closed doors.
Yeah, Brook isn’t the big name that Crawford wants and needs to take his career to the next level, but compared to the opposition he’s been facing, this is a marked improvement.
What’s unclear is whether Top Rank by design chose to match Crawford against only beatable opposition his entire career or if they foiled all these years when attempting to get the talented fighters at 135, 140, and 147 to face him. Whatever the issue, it’s helped and hurt Crawford.
By facing weaker opposition, Crawford has stayed unbeaten. But on the flip side, the mediocre opponents that Crawford has been fighting has prevented him from making a name for himself.
Brook, 34, used to be a highly popular fighter in the UK years ago, but he grounded his career by losing a coupe of times to Gen
Terence could face Spence in 2021
If Crawford wins tonight and IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence defeats challenger Danny Garcia in their fight on December 5th, there’s a great chance that we’ll see Spence-Crawford unification in the first half of 2021.
Top Rank needs to make that fight happen, seeing that Crawford’s contract is set to expire in 2021.
If Top Rank is to have any shot at re-signing the 33-year-old Crawford, they need to match him against Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) and or WBA welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. Those are the two fights that Crawford is asking for right now.
A loss for Crawford tonight against Brook will stop his vision of facing Pacquiao and Spence. Those fights won’t happen, or at least they won’t happen for a long, long time.