KELL Brook gets an unlikely chance to become the pound-for-pound best boxer on the planet this weekend, when he faces off against the man currently residing at the top of the fantasy pyramid, Terence Crawford.
Following Vasyl Lomachenko’s demise and the constant weight-jumping of Mexican star Canelo Alavarez, most fight afficionados rank current WBO welterweight champion ‘Bud’ as the world number one.
The Nebraskan is unbeaten in 36 fights and has reigned as a world champion since 2014. He was the dominant force at lightweight, then a unified world champion at light-welterweight, before moving up to capture 147lb gold.
He’s got exceptionally fast hands, illusive footwork, punches like a mule and can switch from southpaw to orthodox without missing a beat. He’s a malicious finisher too, with only one of his last 10 world title challengers managing to last the distance. Crawford is 21/50 to win by KO, TKO, or DQ.
The last :30 … from up close.
Saturday can’t get here fast enough.#CrawfordBrook | ESPN pic.twitter.com/3KZGKveLy1
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) November 11, 2020
Only boxing’s politics have held Crawford back from adding even more belts to his collection in his new weight class. And it’s those same politics that have opened the door for Brook to step in and take a shot at greatness.
‘The Special One’ is no stranger to winning overseas against the odds either. In the summer of 2014, the Steel City star defeated then unbeaten Shawn Porter to claim the IBF welterweight title in one of the biggest wins by a Brit on international waters.
His two-year reign as champion featured a hat-trick of successful title defences on home soil but, was hampered by the fact unification opportunities alluded him. In the end, frustrated by the lack of big-name opponents, Brook jumped up two weight divisions to face middleweight king Gennady Golovkin.
Despite a spirited performance, Kell suffered a broken eye socket before being pulled out of the fight in round five. Eight months later he lost his IBF belt too, when Errol Spence silenced Bramall Lane, outboxing the Brit before claiming an 11th round TKO. Brook again suffering a broken eye socket.
And while Kell has managed three straight wins since, all were up at light middleweight. He’ll have to tip the scales inside 147lb for the first time in three years to make weight on Friday.
From John H Stracey in Mexico City in 1975, to Alan Minter in Las Vegas in 1980, Lloyd Honeyghan in Atlantic City in 1986 and Tyson Fury in Germany in 2015 and then back in Vegas at the start of this year, Brits claiming world titles against seemingly insurmountable odds punctuate the nation’s rich boxing history.
But if 34-year-old, weather-worn Brook is somehow able to have his hand raised inside the MGM Bubble this weekend it could well top the lot. Brook must impose his bigger frame early on and put Crawford on the back foot. Try and get some rounds in the bank and hold on. Brook is 14/1 to win on points.
Crawford dropped Amir Khan in the opening round in New York last year, and blitzed the Brit with relative ease before Khan eventually quit in the sixth after losing every round. An all too similar narrative looks almost inevitable here.
Latest bout odds: Crawford (1/16) Draw (25/1) Brook (15/2)
Total rounds: Over 9.5 (Evens) Under 9.5 (3/4)
Tip: Crawford to win by KO, TKO, or DQ (21/50), Crawford to win in Rounds 7-9 (14/5)
