Crawford started slow and finished fast, stopping Kell Brook with a barrage of punches in the fourth round Saturday night to retain his welterweight title.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Terence Crawford started slow and finished fast, stopping Kell Brook with a barrage of punches in the fourth round Saturday night to retain his welterweight title. Crawford remained unbeaten and kept his place on the mythical pound-for-pound best list with an impressive stoppage of the veteran Brook, who fought well for three rounds before succumbing to Crawford’s power. Crawford turned the fight around with a big right hand that sent Brook into the ropes and prompted referee Tony Weeks to give him an 8-count. When the fight resumed, he landed a half dozen punches to the head before Weeks waved the fight to a close at 1:14 of the fourth round. “Kell is a tremendous talent, I can’t take nothing away from him,’ Crawford said. “But he lost to a better man tonight.’ Brook said he thought he was controlling the fight when he got hit with the punch that sent him across the ring. “Never in my career, nobody has ever done that to me, not even in sparring,’ Brook said. Crawford, who scored his 28th knockout in running his record to 37-0, took his time in the opening rounds to figure out Brook, who used his jab and speed to win early rounds.
