Terence Crawford successfully defended his welterweight WBO title, knocking out the challenger Kell Brook.
Composed, patient, and above all, lethally precise, Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) once again retained his belt, this time via fantastic knockout in the fourth round of the match. With 1:14 to go, the referee Tony Weeks stopped the fight as Brook (39-3, 27 KOs) couldn’t defend himself.
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At first, Crawford shook him with a short right hook, that saw the Brith hitting the ropes and trying to hide from the American’s surge. Weeks stepped in to count and give Brook a chance to recover, but that wasn’t enough, as Crawford immediately continued to pressure the rival. Right hook, followed by several left uppercuts, destroyed the challenger, forcing Weeks to finish the bout.
Throughout the entire fight, Crawford was looking composed. It seems that he allowed Brook to have the initiative in the opening moments only to see his capabilities and size of the rival. Once he figured out everything, it didn’t take too long for the American to wrap up things.
This was the 28th knockout for Crawford, who once again proved to be one of the most spectacular fighters in boxing, and possibly the one who could unify all the belts. Right now, Many Pacquiao holds the WBA belt, while Errol Spence Jr. is the champion of the IBF and WBC versions.
Sources suggest that his encounter with Manny Pacquiao was almost a done deal, but COVID-19 pandemics prevented it from happening. It would be interesting to see what is next for this devastating puncher and whether he goes after one of those two above-mentioned names. Pacquiao doesn’t have any fights scheduled at the moment, while on the other side, Spence Jr. meets Danny Garcia in less than three weeks.
As for Brook, he would admit that nobody defeated him the way Crawford did. He was an underdog in this battle, but some believed that the Brit might surprise the champ due to his experience in the heavier divisions.
His previous two losses were against Spence Jr. and Gennadiy Golovkin, both due to an orbital bone injury. He decided to come back down to welterweight, although having solid results in the light-middleweight division, only because of an opportunity to win the belt. Brook’s plans for the future remain questionable.