147? Well, Kell's said he can do it over the last year or so. I say go for it. He's in the final stage of his career, he's looking for something big, and he has nothing really to lose and everything to gain in this fight at this point. Getting back to welter and beating Crawford, if he could pull it off, would be more celebrated than anything he might hypothetically do at 154, due to Crawford's P4P cache.
Brook can make the weight but that's not the point. It's whether he can make 147 and still be strong. I don't think he can. He openly admits he feels much better at 154.
I used to think he could maybe go that cherry picking route but I don't think he's even got that left in the tank. He's done and this fight is just an easy way for Arum and Crawford to make some dough from milking the last drop of recognition from his name. An easy low risk defence for Crawford and one last payday for Kell.
I get you, but what is there for him at 154? Can he make the same bang fighting the better guys there (even if he's able to negotiate fights with them and beat a couple of them in the limited time he has left) as he can fighting Crawford? At this point in his career, he might as well just go for the glory of beating the arguable P4P Picasso.
crazy, i hope Top Rank paying Kell well for him to kill himself to make 147. Kell cannot make 147 safely so its crazy why he wants to do that i can ONLY think the money on the table is better than any 154 fight and a shot at a belt. Bad fight for Kell. I cannot see how he can survive a 12 rounds at 147.
Pointless for both men. Crawford NEEDS to fight a top 3/5 WW, Kell is irrelevant at this moment in time. Kell is shot, Crawford needs a top name.
Fighting GGG at 160 then boiling back down to 147 seven months later to fight Spence is one of the more suicidal moves I've seen a Boxer perform.
Problem was if Brook after GGG said he was no longer a WW and moved up people would have said he was ducking his mandatory defence in Spence.
Ok, first of all, for me Kell Brook has to fight at 154lbs, he is apparently not having to be coerced into training anymore which indicates he is taking his preparation seriously (most boxers would see this as a given), something he would absolutely have to do if he harbours any hopes of getting down to 147lbs again. I'm a big fan of Brook and while I hugely admire his willingness to step into the ring with elite fighters such as GGG, Spence Jnr and Shawn Porter (which now seems an age ago!) before we get onto the prospect of him facing Crawford, I'd just like to see him in these big fights compete in more 50/50 fights rather than ones that are heavily weighted against him. Certainly in the cases of GGG, Spence Jnr and Crawford, Brook stood (or stands) little chance in any of those and while we should credit him for wanting to fight the best, even if it means stepping up two weight divisions, I just think his talent and quality deserved some big title fights where we can believe that Brook can get in there and actually win rather than just give a good account of himself yet get beat. He gave gutsy displays in all those fights and obviously got the better of Porter, and yes he could have sidestepped the best and worked an easier way to a world title, but I do think his selection of fights could have been better balanced. At this stage maybe he does just want one last big fight before he finishes and Crawford represents that, but again it's a thankless task for him, in my opinion. There are many more obvious big fights for him at 147lbs, but how much is that going to take out of him ? Surely there's a world title opportunity for him at 154lbs which will still be a big event in the UK. Domestic dust-ups with Liam Smith or Amir Khan could also be enticing, but another elite fighter ? Not just yet Kell, please.
It's not really that "big" of a fight though is it? Its a hardcore fight that's not going to do big PPV numbers, unless DAZN bankrolls it. What I'm saying is that if Kell wants to cash out, this isn't the fight for that.