Terence Crawford Returns For November Clash Against Kell Brook
A former champion is looking to reclaim his glory against one of the top fighters in the world today.
Top Rank’s Bob Arum announced that Terence Crawford will defend his WBO Welterweight Title against Kell Brook. The fight will take place on November 14 on ESPN. A location has not been determined yet. Reports of this fight becoming official was made in September by The Athletic.
“Kell Brook is one of the elite fighters in the world. He has faced so many of the top boxers,” Arum stated. “He is a real test for pound-for-pound great Terence Crawford. This is another premium fight that will be available to boxing fans for no extra charge live on ESPN.”
This will be Crawford’s (36–0) first fight since December 2019, when he beat Egidijus Kavaliauskas via TKO. That was the third defense of the WBO Welterweight Title, which he earned by beating Jeff Horn back in 2018.
Brook (39–2) is on a three-fight win streak and is 5–2 in his last seven fights. His last bout was a TKO-win against Mark DeLuca in February. It was Brook’s first fight since 2018 when he beat Michael Zerafa. A former IBF Welterweight Champion, Brook wanted more. He moved to middleweight to face then WBC, IBF, and IBO Middleweight Champion Gennadiy Golovkin. Losing via TKO, Brook returned to welterweight, where he lost the IBF belt to Errol Spence Jr. Nagging injuries from those bouts kept him out of the ring for a while.
When announcing an upcoming fight for Crawford, Arum told ESPN that a list was cut down to a select number of fighters. The list included Errol Spence Jr., Yordenis Ugas, Shawn Porter, Manny Pacquiao, and Brook. “Special K” ended up earning the spot during a time when COVID-19 has altered several matchups in boxing.
Crawford fighting in 2020 was originally in doubt due to money issues. The champion was not willing to take a cut in pay if he was to return.
As far as a location is concerned, Boxing Scene is reporting that the fight will take place in the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. This past weekend, the venue hosted Vasiliy Lomachenko v. Teofimo Lopez.
