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Terence “Bud” Crawford once again left no doubt in the ring tonight in defense of his WBO welterweight title, extending his career undefeated streak to 37 fights and his current stoppage streak to eight by scoring a knockout. coach on Kell Brook in the fourth round in Las Vegas. .
Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) started tentatively, as he usually does, feeling Brook in the early rounds, though he had his moments. The 33-year-old Crawford had a better round in the third, and it became clear that he could not only do more damage from a left-handed stance, but also deny what had been a solid jab from Brook (39-3, 27 KO) at first.
Then it happened suddenly. Crawford nailed Brook with a right hook, sending the 34-year-old Briton stumbling over the ropes. Brook was clearly injured and a fall was ruled, but Brook attempted to continue. Crawford lived up to his billing as one of the box’s best and most vicious finishers, following up with a series of power shots that forced referee Tony Weeks to step in for the stoppage at 1:14.
“I was trying to measure the distance. He had a good distance. I was trying to find my rhythm and gather my distance, ”Crawford said of a fight that seemed competitive until it wasn’t.
“That’s why it was competitive in the beginning, I couldn’t make my shots. He just had to take a step forward, throw more but not too much. I caught up with it a couple of times. “
When asked if he felt this was a bigger statement for his team than Brook’s 11th-round stoppage of Errol Spence Jr in 2017, Crawford shrugged, but also said he felt it was a better victory.
“It was different fights, different years and all that,” he said. “Kell is a tremendous talent. He came and tried to take my title, he was in shape, he made the weight. There were no excuses. He came out of three wins, not one loss. He was more confident, but he lost to the best tonight. “
Eyes now, of course, will turn to what’s next for Crawford, and we’ll have more on that tomorrow morning. But the demand from the public is clear: it’s time, it’s time, for Bud Crawford to fight one of PBC’s best welterweights. Promoter Bob Arum was very proud of the idea.
“(Errol) Spence and (Danny) Garcia will fight on December 5. If they really want to make a big pay-per-view, I’ll put Terence Crawford with both of them, one at a time, and he will ‘beat them both on the same night, ”Arum said. “He is by far the best welterweight in the world.”
Arum added that he feels that Crawford would have been able to compete with the great welterweights of the 1980s, while the others today would not.
“Today’s welterweights are not competitive with Terence Crawford,” added the Hall of Fame promoter.
Crawford, for his part, appears to be more focused on a possible fight with future 42-year-old WBA champion Manny Pacquiao, and Arum says the money was there to make that fight, and that it could happen in the spring of 2021. in the Middle East. Pacquiao, for what it’s worth, seems likely to fight Conor McGregor, but that’s not official.
For now, all is wait and see. There are also rumors that Crawford could leave Top Rank to secure a fight with a PBC standout, which could ultimately make more sense to him and make things easier. If it doesn’t, the stagnation is very likely to continue until 2021.
But for now, Crawford is leaving to celebrate another dominating performance.
