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Terence Crawford started slow and finished fast, stopping Kell Brook with a series of punches in the fourth round Saturday night to retain his welterweight title.
Crawford remained undefeated and kept his place on the pound-for-pound best list with an impressive stoppage from the British fighter, who fought well for three rounds before succumbing to Crawford’s power.
Crawford turned the fight around with a big right hand that sent Brook against the ropes and caused referee Tony Weeks to give him a count of eight. When the fight resumed, he landed a half-dozen punches to the head before Weeks finished the fight at 1:14 of the fourth round.
“Kell is a tremendous talent, I can’t take anything from him,” Crawford said. “But he lost to a better man tonight.”
Brook said he thought he was controlling the fight when he received the blow that sent him through the ring. “Never in my career has anyone done that to me, not even in combat,” Brook said.
Crawford, who scored his 28th knockout by bringing his record to 37-0, took his time in the early rounds to discover Brook, who used his jab and speed to win the early rounds. After shifting from an orthodox stance to left-handed, he began landing at a better pace before unleashing a right hook early in the fourth round that sent Brook (39-3) staggering through the ring.
The British challenger stood tall by the ropes, but when the fight resumed, he was unable to defend himself when Crawford landed a series of punches before Weeks stopped the fight. Fight stats showed Crawford landed 36 of 111 punches to 26 of 109 for Brook. It was the eighth consecutive knockout in the title for Crawford.
Crawford said after the fight that he wanted to fight Manny Pacquiao next, a fight that was under negotiation before Crawford turned to Brook. “I’m looking to secure a Pacquiao fight,” the Nebraska fighter said. Promoter Bob Arum said he has had negotiations to pair Crawford with Pacquiao, with a possible fight sometime in the spring in the Middle East.
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The fight followed a strange ending in a title match between Joshua Franco Y Andrew Moloney, a rematch of their first fight in June.
Franco’s eye was swollen from what was considered an accidental headbutt in the first round of the scheduled 12-round bout. After the ring doctor ruled that Franco could not continue at the end of the second round because he had his eye closed, the fight was declared no contest, which means that Franco retains the belt.
In London, Katie taylor sailed to a unanimous decision victory over Spain Miriam Gutierrez to remain the undisputed women’s lightweight world champion.
The 34-year-old Irishman topped the card at Wembley Arena in the last of three women’s world title fights and put on an impressive performance that earned her the best of fame.
Gutierrez, who was fighting outside his homeland Spain for the first time, entered the fray with a 13-0 record but was simply outmatched by the impressive Taylor, with the judges scoring the one-sided contest 100-89, 100-90 and 99-91 in his favor as he retained his WBA, IBF, WBC, WBO and Ring titles with ease.
“Yes, very, very satisfied,” Taylor told Sky Sports. “I thought it was a great performance and she was very tough. Sometimes I did my best to get her out of there. She is very tough but I couldn’t get her out. I would have loved to have a stoppage today, but it was a great performance. Today I was very happy.
“There is no shortage of great fights out there. It’s about legacy and making history in this sport and inspiring the next generation, but yeah, people still haven’t seen my best.
