Terence Crawford has shown the world why he's one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet with a convincing stoppage victory over Kell Brook on Saturday night.'Bud' entered the fight with a glittering 36-0 record, the WBO welterweight title, victory over Brook's compatriot Amir Khan and memories of becoming the undisputed light-welterweight champion.Brook, on the other hand, looked for all intents and purposes to be a huge underdog upon three years of relative inactivity after the back-to-back Gennady Golovkin and Errol Spence Jr defeats.
Kell Brook defeated in USA
While he had emerged from bouts with Sergey Rabchenko, Michael Zerafa and Mark DeLuca victorious, they did little to prepare him for one of the most talented boxers in the sport.
And in the end, the gulf in class was apparent as soon as they exchanged leather at the weekend with Crawford able to close out the fight convincingly within the opening 12 minutes.
After something of a tactical affair during the opening rounds at the MGM Grand Conference Center, Crawford landed the bone-shattering right hand that changed the fight in an instant.
Crawford dishes out TKO finish
Brook instantly lost his balance and staggered across the canvas in a way we've hardly seen from 'Special K' before, although the Sheffield fighter did indeed return to his feet quickly.
It was, however, clear that Crawford's perfectly-timed strike had scrambled Brook's head and the American fighter was quick to end the context by pouncing on his wounded opponent.
In the end, it was a series of clubbing right and left hands that prompting the stoppage with the referee calling a technical knockout with Brook strewn between the ropes.
You can check out Crawford's lethal finish down below:
Crawford vs Spence Jr next?
According to Michael Benson, Brook noted after the fight that he'd never been floored like that before either in sparring or in a fight, adding that Crawford should now face Spence Jr.
“The better man won tonight," Brook conceded. "Nobody’s ever done that to me in sparring or anything. I think that [Errol Spence] is the fight to make.
"Even though he’s stopped me, I can’t say, ‘He would do that to Spence.’ It’s a fight everybody needs to see.”
What next for Brook and Crawford?
It's pretty hard to disagree with you there, Kell, with Crawford vs Spence Jr proving one of the most lucrative clashes you can possibly make in the fight game right now.
As for Brook, you have to wonder how many more fights he's got in the tank and his promotional dispute with Eddie Hearn in the build-up to the bout suggests his future might not be in the UK.
Either way, while Brook was undoubtedly outclassed, you've got to applaud him for stepping in with one of the deadliest fighters in boxing because my goodness does that take some cojones.
