Today, we’re going to break down this weekend’s WBO Welterweight title fight between boxing’s #1 pound-for-pound fighter, Terence Crawford, and former champ Kell Brook. The bout between two fighters whose careers are going in entirely opposite directions goes down on November 14 in Las Vegas.
Here are my thoughts ahead of this bout.
Does Kell Brook Have A Chance?
Kell Brook might be shit out of luck this weekend
Last week, Terence Crawford was a 21-to-1 favorite to win. Today, he’s at 30-to-1. There’s no faith in Brook this weekend and for good reason. Five years ago, things started happening to him that whittled him down and left him washed up.
He couldn’t make 147, so he went up to 160 to get one side of his face broken by Gennadiy Golovkin. He followed that up by moving back down in weight to get the other side of his face broken by Errol Spence.
After that fight, he started talking about how he was mentally and physically tired from those setbacks and considered calling it quits. He didn’t, instead coming back at 154, but the work he’s done from Spence to now hasn’t been impressive.
On top of that, the man is going back down in weight again for a payday against a certifiable killer. I have to emphasize that because people tend to forget how ruthless Terence Crawford can be when he smells blood in the water. He’s Jaws. He’s the Predator. He’s the Candyman.
Back when Brook was in his prime and had some tread on his tires, he maybe could make it to the end. Now, it’s just a matter of time before Crawford dings him with something, and then he’ll beat him until either he drops him or his corner gets nauseous watching what’s going on in there.
I honestly don’t see this going beyond eight rounds.
Is This A No-Win Situation For Terence Crawford?
Crawford has little to gain in victory
As good as Crawford is, he’s still a fighter who relies on a promoter to find him work. He can talk about his hit list all he wants, but fights like this are a result of his long term deal with Top Rank. Crawford can either fight the best fighters Top Rank has on staff or the best of what’s left. Brook is clearly the latter.
We just saw Devin Haney turn in a comprehensively dominant performance against Yuriorkis Gamboa that saw him take a hit to his marketability. The big reason for that was because, despite Haney’s technical prowess, he was never at a point where he was threatening a stoppage against his overmatched foe.
Crawford doesn’t sit back to admire his work. If he can get a fighter out of there, he will. I don’t expect he’ll struggle much with Brook, but I do believe that many will see a drawn out fight as a referendum on Crawford. He’s not getting the fights we need to see to determine how good he is at 147, but that’s not his fault.
Can Crawford Get A Big Fight With Top Rank?
Top Rank won't get Crawford the big fights
A big knock on Crawford has been his competition since moving up to 147, especially as his contemporaries are seemingly involved in one captivating fight after another. Fans are growing restless of wanting to see Crawford against the likes of Errol Spence, Keith Thurman or Manny Pacquiao, but we can’t ignore Top Rank’s inability to work with PBC.
Crawford can only fight the guys put in front of him, and he only really loses if he loses in the ring. It really comes down to how hard Crawford is pushing his promoter to get the work done. Mikey Garcia had a similar predicament with Top Rank to the point where he gave up two years of his prime to fight Bob Arum in court for his release. Garcia turned that into the biggest paydays of his career.
So too did Floyd Mayweather, and Oscar De La Hoya, and recently, Canelo Alvarez. The problem with Crawford is that he is not a marketable fighter like those previously mentioned. I also think that despite his pining for a big fight, he’s happy with the state of his career and how it’s been handled. Then again, we don’t know what we don’t know.
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