WBO welterweight champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford 37-0 (28) is targeting a fight with eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao 62-7-2 (39) in the Middle East.
The 33-year-old southpaw from Omaha, Nebraska is coming off a dominant fourth-round knockout victory over former IBF champion Kell Brook 39-3 (27) at ‘The Bubble’ at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night.
After the win, talk quickly turned to Crawford’s future plans.
“I already said who I want. I want Manny Pacquiao [who holds the WBA belt],” he said.
“I want to revisit that fight. That was a fight that should’ve happened right now.
“But being that the pandemic happened, and they weren’t going to allow fans in the Middle East, they had to put a hold to that.
“Everything was 95 percent done. We had the venue. The money was almost there. It wasn’t quite there. That was the only thing we were waiting on.
“Kell is a tremendous talent. He came and he tried to take my title. He was in shape. He made the weight. There were no excuses to be put on the table. He came off of three wins.”
Brook, 34, was effective with the jab early but once Crawford settled into his rhythm the writing was on the wall. A counter right hook from Crawford in the fourth sent Brook to the canvas and the follow-up barrage forced referee Tony Weeks to step in and stop the fight at the 1:14 mark.
“Never in my career, nobody has ever done that to me in sparring or anything. It was one of them… I got caught with a shot I didn’t see,” Brook said.
“I’m gutted because nobody could’ve gotten me in better condition. I was bang on the limit. Maybe I could’ve been a bit more relaxed and loose and let the shots go.”
Promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank added: “Terence Crawford showed, once again, why he is the best welterweight in the world.
“It was a dominating performance over a very good fighter in Kell Brook. Terence ranks up there with all the great welterweights I’ve promoted.”
With many of the leading welterweights promoted by rival Premier Boxing Champions – including IBF and WBA champion Errol Spence Jr and former world champions Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman – Crawford knows there is little point calling them out.
“I don’t call them out. I’m not going to keep calling them out every time you put a camera in my face,” Crawford said.
“I’ve already did that, so there’s no need to do it anymore. If it gets made, it gets made. As I said before, I’m not sad if it doesn’t happen. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen.
“It’s the way the cards roll. I wish all the top welterweights. I wish them nothing but the best of course.”
The undefeated Spence 26-0 (21), who is scheduled to face Garcia 36-2 (21) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on December 5, would make the perfect opponent for Crawford according to Brook.
“Even though I’ve been beaten by [Crawford], I can’t sit here now and say he’d beat Spence, he’d beat [Shawn] Porter because styles make fights,” said Brook, who was stopped by Spence in 11 rounds in 2017.
“But one thing [Crawford] has got, he’s got good distance, he’s got fast hands obviously and he’s got a good eye to land the shot…
“I think that’s the fight to make. Even though he’s stopped me tonight, I can’t say he would do that to Spence or beat Spence. It’d be a fight that everyone needs to see.”
Arum said he doubts the fight will get made anytime soon.
“Errol Spence will try to avoid Terence Crawford as long as he can because he knows he can’t beat Terence Crawford,” Arum said.
“You saw the performance tonight, he’ll take out Errol Spence in about the same number of rounds like he took out Kell Brook.”
