Kell Brook is lean, mean and ready to shock Terence Crawford, 'world's best pound-for-pound fighter'

Kell Brook’s career-defining fight with Terence Crawford was made in a few seconds when the two elite fighters went tete-a-tete in Las Vegas in February, just minutes before Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder weighed in ahead of their blockbuster World Boxing Council heavyweight title clash. I can report this as Brook had just been on the radio with me for TalkSport and he was in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops as Crawford went by with a few friends.

Crawford, in the top three pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and an undefeated three-weight world champion, has been on Brook’s mind for a long time. It is a fight he is motivated enough to make weight for (“to train my ass off for...”) and the chance, if it goes well for him, to leave the sport with a legacy.

Urging him to go to and confront Crawford, I recorded it on my phone. They talked for only a couple of minutes. It was affable, two fighters looking each other up and down. When I caught up with Brook this week by video, the Sheffield fighter and former world welterweight champion, already in Las Vegas, looked physically lean and mean. Brook is up for this.

“It were only a couple of minutes. With promoters it can take forever but with just the fighters it can take a few minutes and you’ve got the biggest fight in boxing,” he says. “Even more interesting it was about me making the weight. He kept saying, ‘Can you make the weight?’ He weren’t saying he could beat me, it was more about the weight. This is probably going to be the easiest I’ve made welterweight, as strange as that sounds.

“You keep learning. The punishment I’ve put my body through, I’ve not let myself blow up. I’ve been investing more time in myself. Training very hard and well and listening to my nutritionist. I’ve been listening and taking it one day at a time. Most of the weight is off now. Most of the time in every other fight, the biggest fight is making the weight. This time it’s about Terence Crawford, the weight is already made.”

Brook knows the challenge is a huge one, and at his peak it would have been an even fight. Now 34, with two losses in 41 fights – to Errol Spence at welterweight and Gennady Golovkin up two weights in the middleweight division – he is a long underdog.

“This is a massive challenge. For me to go out and win I’ve got to box the best I’ve boxed in my whole career. But, I love a challenge and I’m grabbing this challenge with both hands. I went out and made this fight with arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

“I’ve always wanted to get in there with the best in the world, so when I do hang my gloves up at least I can say I fought the best, without the politics involved. I’m also an elite fighter. He’s never boxed anybody with my size, power and self-belief. So he knows this as well.”

Crawford, from Omaha, has climbed the weights – lightweight, light welterweight, now welterweight as champion – never being truly troubled and amassing a 36-fight unbeaten run, in the process defeating Scotsman Ricky Burns on the Briton’s home territory, and last year, Amir Khan at Madison Square Garden. Khan was still peeing blood the next day after being hammered to the body by the American.

“Nobody has unlocked him,” Brook says. “But like I said, it’s hard to find any flaws. He’s a switch hitter, he’s got balance, he’s a finisher – there’s not much I can say he does wrong. But I’m similar to him. My timing is perfect and I’ve got a very good jab. I can take a shot and I’ve got self-belief. I’m natural, a big heavy-hitting welterweight. It’s a real fight, he knows that. I know it’s going to be one hell of fight.”

It meant getting to Las Vegas early. “We got to Vegas Friday night [Oct 30]. We’re waking up at crazy times in the morning still. But we’re following what we need to eat and getting training in. We’re getting Covid tests every couple of days because it’s a different world now. We’re doing everything to make this fight. We’re zeroing in on fight night.”

Brook knows the American scene well. In 2014, he beat another formidable foe in Shawn Porter, claiming the IBF welterweight crown on an historic night by majority decision.

“Normally it takes me 10 days to fully adjust to the time zone. I’ll definitely be ready for the fight. I’ve done everything asked of me in this fight and I’m positive. No stone left unturned. And I’m a happy fighter. Maybe Dominic Ingle, my trainer, is not around and training has been in quarantine, but it’s still not got me down.

“I’ve still got the work in. I’ve still been doing my training sessions and studying the game. I’m very happy coming into this fight. The weight’s there, the fitness is up there, the self-belief is there and I’m happy. I’m a dangerous fighter right now.”

This fight will be all about who controls the space between them. “I’m going to need to use everything in my arsenal to get this victory. My eyes will be locked on Terence from round one. I’ve got to go out and execute the plan we’ve got. It’s 36 minutes of my life to leave 1,000 per cent of my heart in there. I’m going to give it everything and I believe that I am a very hard man to beat when I’ve got this in my heart.

“There’s been a lot of shocks in boxing. I was there at Wilder-Fury and then there was Teofimo Lopez beating Vasyl Lomachenko a few weeks ago. One punch and you’re champion again and the best thing since sliced bread. I won’t be shocked when I come out world champion.”

Terence Crawford v Kell Brook for the WBO welterweight world title is live on Premier Sports 1 in the UK on Nov 14.