Terence Crawford stuns Kell Brook inside four rounds to retain his WBO welterweight title after putting on a masterclass boxing display in Las Vegas taking his unbeaten streak to 37-0 – and the American now has his sights set on Manny Pacquiao
- Kell Brook has been beaten by Terence Crawford inside four rounds in Las Vegas
- The 34-year-old Brit was outshone in only his second bout in the last two years
- Crawford landed a flurry of devastating punches to end it in the fourth
- The American retains his WBO welterweight strap and is now 37-0 in his career
Terence Crawford has retained his WBO welterweight strap after stopping Kell Brook inside four rounds in Las Vegas.
The 34-year-old Brook was outshone in only his second bout in the last two years and was a huge underdog against Crawford, who is now unbeaten in 37 professional fights.
The Briton took a standing eight count a minute into the fourth when the American connected with a right hand and Crawford pounced after the resumption with a flurry of shots with referee Tony Weeks stepping in.
Terence Crawford put on a boxing masterclass to stop Kell Brook and retain his WBO strap
Brook, by a narrow margin, had the best of the early exchanges but the Nebraskan began to switch stances and found his rhythm by the third.
The jab, which was the beginning of the end for Brook, seemed fairly innocuous but he fell back into the ropes and the writing was on the wall as Crawford, who saw off Amir Khan in 2019, finished the job.
Following his emphatic win, Crawford has now set his sights on a fight with Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao next year, with a fight potentially taking place in the Middle East.
Crawford (left) landed a jab on Brook which sent the Brit stumbling into the ropes in the fourth
The American then landed a flurry of punches after a standing eight-count to win the bout
Crawford has his hand raised by referee Tony Weeks as he takes his unbeaten streak to 37-0
The two were supposed to meet in Qatar earlier this year but the coronavirus pandemic put a stop to their attempts to unify the division.
Now, the 33-year-old wants to revisit talks with the Pacman as he aims to add the WBA strap to his waist.
Crawford said: ‘I already said who I want. I want Pacquiao. 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 per cent done. We had the venue. The money was almost there.
Crawford and promoter Bob Arum revealed they now have the sights set on Manny Pacquiao
‘It wasn’t quite there. That was the only thing we were waiting on.’
There was controversy further down the card when the bout between Joshua Franco and Andrew Moloney ended in a no contest.
Franco, the WBA super flyweight holder, was on the back foot inside the first round when the referee deemed he had been on the receiving end of a headbutt and the fight stopped despite replays suggesting the cuts were as a result of Moloney’s jabs.