Former IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook has cast his learned eye of this weekend’s highly anticipated undisputed welterweight world title clash between Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr 28-0 (22) and Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford 39-0 (30) this weekend.
The 33-year-old Spence from Desoto, Texas will put his WBC, WBA and IBF belts against the WBO strap of Omaha, Nebraska’s Crawford, 35.
Brook knows a thing or two about both combatants. In 2017 he lost his IBF crown to Spence by 11th round knockout. Four fights and three years later Crawford stopped him in five to retain his WBO bauble.
“I was one of those who worried we might never get this fight on. Now we have two of the best in the game and whoever wins is going to be the pound-for-pound number one in any division,” Brook told Metro.co.uk.
“It is going to come down to who has got the best game plan, who has prepared the best for the other man and who will deal with the pressure. Because believe me, there will be huge pressure on both of them.
“Errol Spence is a very big, very strong welterweight, he goes to the body well. He’s very stand up, a serious top fighter in every department. The only thing that is maybe against him is being inactive in recent years, dating back to the car crash. That will play a factor in this fight.
“It is very deep tactically, it’s the best of the best here. Crawford can naturally switch hit between southpaw and orthodox so comfortably that you can’t read it. It shows how special he is. He comes at odd angles and he’s such a good finisher.
“He doesn’t punch as hard as Errol Spence but at this level, that doesn’t mean everything. Look at Floyd Mayweather, he made it look easy against Canelo. It is down to the IQ. There are only small percentage margins between these two and we’re going to find out who’s got that advantage.
“One of them will have that X-factor, that slight edge on the night, and that comes from who handles the pressure best and deal with the lights on them.”
Brook thinks the early rounds will be telling for both boxers.
“Spence can get a bit frustrated in a fight early on, I noticed that when I fought him and over the years since,” Brook said. “He can get hit and he can get hurt. With Terence, I think there were times early on when I was sharp shooting and outboxing him in the early rounds when we fought.
“Crawford is not the fastest starter. He warms up and gets better as the fight goes on. It is hard to go back to both fights but it’s going to be incredible. There is going to be bombs and haymakers at some stage and there is going to be a lot of deep tactical work, extremely high-level fighting around the ring. We will see it all.”
