The pound-for-pound king is set to reclaim his throne. WBO welterweight world champion Terence Bud Crawford will defend his title against former welterweight world champion Kell Brook in a special edition of Top Rank on ESPN Saturday, Nov. 14. In the world championship co-feature, Joshua El Profesor Franco will defend his WBA super flyweight title against former world champion Andrew “The Monster” Moloney in a rematch of their June bout, won by Franco via decision.
Promoted by Top Rank and sponsored by GEICO, ESPN and ESPN Deportes will televise Crawford-Brook and Franco-Moloney 2 beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while a full slate of undercard bouts will stream live on ESPN+ at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT. Venue information for Crawford-Brook will be announced soon.
Crawford, the pride of Omaha, Neb., has reigned as WBO welterweight world champion since June 9, 2018, when he stopped Jeff The Hornet Horn in nine one-sided rounds. He has since defended that world title three times, including a sixth-round demolition over former unified junior welterweight champion Amir King Khan in April 2019. Crawford has not fought since last December’s ninth-round TKO over Egidijus Mean Machine Kavaliauskas and will enter the ring against Brook coming off a career-long 11-month layoff. He has won seven straight bouts by knockout since a one-sided decision over Viktor Postol in a July 2016 junior welterweight unification bout. Prior to his welterweight world title campaign, Crawford was the lineal lightweight and undisputed junior welterweight world champion.
I’ve been told there are people writing off my chances, questioning my age, and my ability to make the weight. Well, let them talk. Some people focus on reading headlines, I focus on making headlines. Those people writing me off as a big underdog? No problem. I guess this big dog will be making a few people richer during a difficult time.
Moloney, from Melbourne, Australia, won the interim world title with a knockout over Elton Dharry last November and was subsequently elevated to world champion. In his first world title defense, June 23 from the MGM Grand Las Vegas Bubble, he was upset via unanimous decision at the hands of Franco, a native of San Antonio, Texas, who was previously best known for his action-packed trilogy with Oscar Negrete.
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