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Steve KimESPN
Discussions are underway for WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford to face former IBF welterweight titlist Kell Brook on Nov. 14, according to Top Rank’s Bob Arum.
”Kell Brook is a free agent, and we’re discussing a Crawford fight with the Kell Brook people,” Arum told ESPN on Tuesday. “That’s on top of our wish list.”
The veteran promoter had been attempting to tie together a deal for Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) to face WBA welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao in the Middle East, but ultimately hasn’t been successful.
“I don’t think it’s going to be possible this year, maybe next year,” said Arum. “We’re working on it, we had the go-ahead to do it, but then the minister of health said not this year, look to do it next year.”
Crawford is considered one of the best fighters in the sport, but has been challenged in securing a career-defining fight. In Brook (39-2, 27 KOs) he’d face a boxer whose only two losses have come against former middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin and current unified welterweight champion Errol Spence. While he had moments in both of those bouts, he also sustained significant damage.
Against Golovkin, who stopped him in five rounds in September 2016, Brook suffered a fracture to his right eye socket. In his next bout the following May against Spence, Brook suffered a broken left orbital bone and was stopped in 11 rounds.
Earlier this year, in a bout at junior middleweight, Brook knocked out Mark DeLuca in seven rounds.
Crawford, the former undisputed junior welterweight champion, has won titles in three weight divisions. He stopped Egidijus Kavaliauskas in his last bout on Dec. 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York