On Saturday night at the Bubble in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, undefeated WBO welterweight champion Terence “Bud” Crawford made short work of former IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook stopping him in the fourth round of a 12-round main event on ESPN.
The 33-year-old champion fought a much more patient and calculated fight and was able to find his timing by the third round and in the fourth he landed a stiff right hand jab that caught Brook coming in and snapped his head back causing his legs to wobble and nearly fall outside the ring with the ropes holding him up initiating a standing 8-count.
Referee Tony Weeks eventually halted the fight after Brook beat the count when Bud jumped on him and landed three clean power shots that rocked Brook.
After the fight ESPN’s Bernardo Osuma interviewed Crawford and his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank and asked the duo who is next for the champion. The two names given were Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao and Errol Spence Jr. both title holders in the welterweight division.
Arum unleashed a furious attack on the undefeated Spence Jr. who currently holds the WBC and IBF belts and fights under the Al Haymon run Premier Boxing Champions banner, claiming the champion wasn’t on Crawford’s level and was basically ducking him because he knows he would lose.
“Spence and [Danny] Garcia are fighting on December 5. If they really want to make a big pay-per-view, I’ll put Terence Crawford in with both of them, one at a time, and he’d beat both of them the same night,” said Arum.
“He [Crawford] is far and away the best welterweight in the world. He goes back to the great welterweights like Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns. He would have been competitive with them. The welterweights around now are not competitive with Terence Crawford.
“Errol Spence will try to avoid Terence Crawford as long as he can because he knows he can’t beat Terence Crawford,” claimed Arum. “You saw the performance tonight. I mean he’ll take out Errol Spence in about the same number of rounds like he took out Kell Brook.”
Crawford who was right beside Arum during the interview with Bernardo Osuna said he would like to pursue a title unification with WBA welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao fight next because the fight was so close to being made but fell through due to the COVID pandemic.
