Terence Crawford, Kell Brook agree to fight on Nov. 14: report
Terence Crawford and Kell Brook have reached an agreement to fight Nov. 14 on ESPN, according to The Athletic.
No site has been selected, although the outlet is reporting that the fight will take place in either Las Vegas — presumably in the MGM Grand “bubble” — or Crawford’s hometown of Omaha, Neb.
Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) will make at least $4 million, Brook (39-2, 27 KOs) around $2 million.
“Bud” will be making the fourth defense of his junior welterweight belt. He also held lightweight and junior welterweight titles.
Crawford is coming off a ninth-round knockout of Egidijus Kavaliauskas on Dec. 14, meaning he will have been out of the ring for 11 months. That’s the longest break since he turned pro in 2008.
Brook, from Sheffield, England, won a welterweight title when he outpointed Shawn Porter in 2014 and successfully defended three times.
He then suffered brutal knockouts against Gennadiy Golovkin at middleweight and Errol Spence Jr. after returning to 147 pounds, which cost him his title. He has beaten three marginal opponents at junior middleweight since the second setback.
“Special K” is coming off a seventh-round knockout of Mark Deluca on Feb. 8.
Crawford has had difficulty luring other top welterweights into the ring, in part because promotional-managerial affiliations. He fights for Top Rank, his primary rivals for Premier Boxing Champions.
Thus, Crawford, ranked No. 2 on Boxing Junkie’s pound-for-pound list, had to settle for Brook.