LAS VEGAS – Kell Brook didn’t know what hit him.
When the former IBF welterweight champion watches the replay, he’ll see that Terence Crawford cracked him with a quick right hook that abruptly altered their tactical fight in the fourth round Saturday night. Crawford’s punch knocked Brook into the ropes, which held him up and caused an official knockdown.
Crawford hit Brook with three more punches before referee Tony Weeks stepped between them to administer a count to Brook. A vicious Crawford finished Brook with several more power punches once the action resumed, including a left hand that knocked Brook into the ropes again.
That’s when Weeks stepped between them to stop their scheduled 12-rounder at 1:14 of the fourth round of a main event ESPN televised from MGM Grand Conference Center.
Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs), who went off as an 11-1 favorite due to plenty of late money bet on Brook, retained his WBO welterweight title. Brook (39-3, 27 KOs) was competitive prior to that sequence in the fourth round, but ultimately couldn’t handle Crawford’s power.
The 33-year-old Crawford made a fourth successful defense of the WBO welterweight title he won from Jeff Horn, whom Crawford stopped in the ninth round of their June 2018 bout at MGM Grand Garden Arena. The three-division champion from Omaha, Nebraska, also won an eighth straight bout by knockout or technical knockout.
The 34-year-old Brook, of Sheffield, England, lost by knockout for the third time in his 16-year pro career. Gennadiy Golovkin and Errol Spence Jr. previously knocked him out in back-to-back bouts in September 2016 and May 2017.
Brook, who moved up from welterweight to middleweight to challenge Golovkin, suffered fractured orbital bones in his losses to Golovkin (right) and Spence (left). Each of those damaging injuries required surgery.
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He went 3-0 in junior middleweight matches between his losses to Crawford and Spence, but against a much lower level of opposition. Brook also fought at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds against Crawford for the first time in the almost 3½ years since his loss to Spence.
A right hook by Crawford knocked Brook into the ropes with about 2:15 to go in the fourth round. The ropes held up Brook, who couldn’t overcome that punishing punch.
Brook landed a straight right hand with just over a minute to go in the third round. Crawford connected with a right hand about 30 seconds later, and another toward the end of that third round.
Crawford moved backward in the second round in an attempt to lure Brook forward, so that Crawford could counter him.
Crawford switched to his preferred southpaw stance with about 35 seconds remaining in the second round. Crawford couldn’t land a consequential punch before the round ended, but switching stances neutralized Brook’s jab.
A patient, tactical Brook connected with several jabs in the first round, both to Crawford’s head and body. Crawford couldn’t get inside on Brook during those first three minutes because Brook kept pumping that jab.
