Terence Crawford’s win over Kell Brook last Saturday night has planted ideas into his promoter Bob Arum’s head, making him believe that Errol Spence Jr and Danny Garcia wouldn’t stand a chance against him.
Arum was wowed by WBO welterweight champion Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) with the way he was able to switch to the southpaw stance and surprise Brook with a strong right hand that hurt him in the fourth round.
Crawford stopped the normally steel-chinned Brook in the fourth after hurting him with a right hand that initially looked like a jab.
Arum describes the right hand that Crawford hurt Brook with as having “tremendous” power, but it didn’t look tremendous. It looked like a punch a little stronger than a jab, but Brook wasn’t ready for it.
It’s unclear whether Arum’s motive for downgrading the talent of Spence and Danny Garcia was to motivate them to want to fight Crawford of it. He was trying to build his popularity with boxing fans by being critical of the other top 147-pounders.
Arum: Spence and Garcia are one-dimensional
“I think Terence proved why he’s the top pound-for-pound in the sport,” Arum said. “He’s a handful. He started from the right-hand, orthodox stance and got his opponent comfortable, and then he switched to the southpaw stance.
“And then the opponent thinks that what’s going to happen with the right hand is he’s just going to jab and then look to clock the opponent with the left hand, but Terence is completely ambidextrous.
“So he feints with the right hand when he’s fighting a southpaw and then hooks off it with tremendous power. I talked to Kell after the fight, and he said, ‘I didn’t see the punch coming.
“I’ve never been hit like that in my whole career.’ And he’s a great finisher. So guys like [Errol] Spence and [Danny] Garcia, they don’t measure up. They’re one-dimensional. There’s nobody at welterweight that can come close to competing with Crawford.
One of these days, when Crawford finally faces Spence or Danny Garcia, he can try and prove Arum’s point about them being “one-dimensional” and not “measuring up” to him. Until then, fans will have to decide what they believe.
If Spence beats Danny next month in their fight on December 5th, Crawford will need to accept that he’s the B-side, and he’ll need to agree to the smaller money if he wants to fight him.
Brook held his own against Crawford in the first three rounds and looked like he was winning the fight until the fourth.
Arum hoping for Pacquiao vs. Crawford in spring
“If you told me there was no pandemic in the spring, I’d be completely confident because we had a deal in place for the fight to be held in November, and the minister of health in Qatar said, ‘No,’ because he didn’t believe we would be allowed to have spectators in November.
“But we heard from them as of last week. They said if Terence is successful in that fight, we want to do it in the spring, either before or after Ramadan. It’s on the boards, but I can’t control the pandemic.
“I really believe there will be a vaccine by then. There was a statement today by the Maderna company. Another vaccine that looks like it has a better shelf life than the Pfizer vaccine. So I’m optimistic, but do I know for sure? No,” said Arum.
It doesn’t seem like Arum is too confident about Pacquiao choosing to fight Crawford in the spring. If Arum is counting on the COVID-19 vaccine to be available to the 330 million+ Americans by the spring of 2021, he might be disappointed.
The vaccine will likely be given to older people and people with serious health problems that make them vulnerable. Pacquiao is going to be busy with his political job in the Philippines. When he does become free, he’ll likely face Mikey Garcia, not Crawford.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0hGBxpyBJQ