WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford will defend his title against former IBF ruler Kell Brook, Top Rank confirmed on Saturday night.
Speculation that the fight was made without Matchroom Boxing’s input has been rife for some time now.
It’s also thought that long-time trainer Dominic Ingle will not be part of Brook’s team.
Crawford vs. Brook has been set for November 14 and is a fight eighteen months in the making.
Having defeated Amir Khan and Ricky Burns previously, Crawford is looking to notch a third British fighter for his record.
At 33, Crawford is fast running out of time to land one of the bigger fish in the division as Manny Pacquiao, and Errol Spence eludes him.
Brook is a second-tier option for Crawford and has to boil down in weight from recently campaigning at 154.
‘The Special One’ will enter the MGM Grand Bubble for the contest and may have fought his last fight under the Matchroom banner.
Defeat for the one-time IBF champion could also mean the end of his career. Brook begins a massive underdog.
Opponent ‘Bud’ is 36-0 with 27 knockouts and one of the best in the world. In contrast, Brook has lost to the only two boxers of note on his C.V since defeating Shawn Porter in 2014.
In 2016, Gennadiy Golovkin gave a brave Brook a hellacious beatdown at middleweight. Eight months later, it was Spence’s turn to rough up the Sheffield man.
Both bouts meant severe facial damage for Brook that required surgery. Many believe Brook has never fully recovered from the ‘GGG’ loss.
TERENCE CRAWFORD FAVORITE
Bookmakers will favor Crawford massively, especially in Las Vegas, as the three-weight world champion treads water until he’s able to land a unification at 147.
Further details of the bout, which is expected to land on ESPN, are set to be released over the weekend.
The original announcement was made during the Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Teofimo Lopez super-fight on Saturday night.
WBN Editor Phil has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow WBN on Facebook @officialworldboxingnews and Twitter @worldboxingnews.
