Boxing

KELL BROOK has secured a welterweight title fight with Terence Crawford for November 14.
Special K will earn £1.6million to take on one of the planet’s best pound-for-pound boxers.

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Kell Brook (above) has landed a fight against Terence CrawfordCredit: Getty

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He looks set to face the undefeated Crawford in the Us in NovemberCredit: AP:Associated Press

According to The Athletic, the undefeated champ will pocket a minimum of £3.14m for his defence.
The highly-anticipated showdown will be staged in either Las Vegas or Omaha, Nebraska in the US.
“Bud” Crawford wanted to fight Errol Spence Jr. this year but unified champion Spence is facing Danny Garcia on November 21 instead.
That will be his first time in the ring since he was seriously injured in a car crash last October.

Therefore, the 33-year-old Crawford will now face the Brit instead.
Brook is a former welterweight champ but has not secured a meaningful victory since defeating Shawn Porter in 2014.
He has been angling for an all-British showdown with bitter rival Amir Khan.

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How Kell Brook and Terence Crawford compare
The two have been trading insults for years, and a straightener in the ring seems further away than ever despite the pair “talking”.

Khan signed a three-fight deal with Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn at the start of 2018 – with the third of those believed to be the long-awaited clash against Brook.
But it never came, and instead the Bolton brawler went over to the US to be stopped in six against Crawford.
Recently Khan, who has not fought since he knocked out Billy Dib in June 2019 out in Saudi Arabia, tried to explain why the fight never happened.
He said: “At this time we’re talking to the likes of Kell Brook, there’s Manny Pacquiao. My first choice would be Manny Pacquiao, he’s such a legend in the sport.
“Kell Brook, obviously he’s not going nowhere. He’s British. And the thing is, when me and Kell Brook started to negotiate the fight, he then moves up to 154.
“The reason I signed up with Eddie Hearn was to get that Kell Brook fight. The third fight on that contract was probably the Kell Brook fight after the Lo Greco fight and the Vargas fight.”

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Brook’s attentions now appear to have switched firmly to Crawford as he looks to upset the odds.
But not many will be backing him to do so against the three-division champion, who boasts a 36-0 record.
Crawford comes into the clash off a December stoppage victory over Egidijus “Mean Machine” Kavaliauskas.

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FIGHTERS who chase immediate revenge after suffering a shock defeat instead of face-saving redemption often end up with a double-dose of disaster.
Distraught Dillian Whyte begged promoter Eddie Hearn to get him a quick rematch with Alexander Povetkin, who came from behind to knock him cold with a left uppercut from hell last month.

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Povetkin stunned Whyte with an incredible uppercut in the fifthCredit: Mark Robinson Ltd

Whyte has got his wish and is supremely confident next time he will beat the Russian, when they meet again on November 2.
Victory for Dillian, who is the 4/11 favourite, will not only restore his pride but regain his place as the mandatory challenger for Tyson Fury’s WBC world heavyweight title.
An unknown sage said “Second chances are not given to make things right but are given to prove that we could be better even after a fall”.
Search boxing’s archives and you will find ample evidence that many famous names seeking retribution failed miserably and Whyte could be among those who received a nasty attack of deja vu.

Floyd Patterson was perhaps the most ignominious failure in a return encounter when he tried to get his world heavyweight crown back from Sonny Liston, in Las Vegas, 57 years ago.
Liston, a one-time Mafia debt-collector, took just 126 seconds of the first round to flatten Patterson to relieve him of the championship.
Patterson felt so ashamed and humiliated he left the Chicago arena wearing dark glasses and a false beard to wear on the journey back to New York in the hope that he wouldn’t be recognised.
Sonny having worked for the Mob and with his prison record for violence was a sinister and scary character. Compared to him Mike Tyson was as menacing as a tooth fairy.

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Whyte begged Eddie Hearn to get him a rematch straight awayCredit: Mark Robinson Ltd

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Yet  Patterson was convinced he would make history by becoming the first man to win back the richest prize in sport so he went after Liston again in Las Vegas ten months later.
Liston swatted him away like he was an irritating fly and Patterson was hammered to another opening round embarrassment.
His only consolation was he had lasted four seconds longer than the first time.
The eccentric Floyd didn’t try to hide on that occasion and to the bewilderment of the hard-bitten American sportswriters told them: “When you’re knocked down with a good shot you don’t feel pain. It’s  a very lovable feeling. It’s like floating.”
The most glaring case of a return going notoriously wrong was Tyson’s attempt to wipe out the memory of being knocked out in the 11th round  when he defended against Evander Holyfield, in Las Vegas.
Eight months later in the same ring Tyson, who looked like getting another bashing from the Real Deal, went berserk and chewed off the top of Holyfield’s right ear and then tried to do the same thing to the left one and was disqualified.

Veteran Jersey Joe Walcott, who won the heavyweight title at his fourth attempt, defended against Rocky Marciano and was way ahead on the judges scorecards before Rocky KO’d him in the 13th round with his dynamite right hand he called his Susie Q.
Walcott, because he was winning so easily, thought he could outbox Marciano again. 
Eight months later Susie Q took just 2min 26secs to put an end to Jersey Joe’s wonderful 23 year career.

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Tyson’s attempt to avenge his defeat to Holyfield ended when he bit his earCredit: Getty – Contributor

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Groves looks confident ahead of Froch rematch… but couldn’t get revengeCredit: AFP – Getty
Back in the Roaring 20’s Jack Dempsey thought he could avenge Gene Tunney’s Philadelphia points win over him, only to be outpointed once more when they met in Chicago, 12 months later.
Remarkably a total of 225,700 fans saw those two open-air battles.
Much nearer home George Groves, who had screamed “Robbery” when stopped in nine rounds by Carl Froch in Manchester, fared even worse five months later when Carl knocked him out in the eighth, in front of an 80,000 Wembley Stadium crowd.
The most tragic return of all was the night  Michael Watson  almost succeeded in removing the memory of his highly controversial points loss to Chris Eubank in their WBO world middleweight title in June 1991.
They went at it again three months later with Watson being stopped  29 secs into the 12th and last round which resulted in Michael being severely brain-damaged.
Whyte has already said despite what happened a few weeks ago he isn’t going to change his tactics. But he must be made aware where boxing is concerned, lightning can strike twice .

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CANELO ALVAREZ has been offered a £16million-per-fight DAZN deal which could see him earn MORE than his initial £300m contract.
The Mexican superstar celebrated the richest contract in American sports history in 2018, spanning over 11 fights, which guaranteed him £28m each bout.

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Canelo Alvarez has been offered a £16million-per-fight DAZN dealCredit: Getty Images – Getty

But arguments over the level of opponents has caused tension between Canelo, 30, Golden Boy Promotions boss De La Hoya and streaming service DAZN.
So much so that Alvarez filed a lawsuit on his promoter and DAZN after accusing them of not fronting a promised payments.
According to The Athletic, to bring peace to the partnership, a ten-hour mediation session was completed on Tuesday.
Canelo, DAZN chief operating officer Ed McCarthy, Golden Boy Promotions’ De La Hoya and Eric Gomez, as well as the three parties respective legal teams of all joined a Zoom call.

It is understood DAZN offered Canelo a restructured deal that would pay the boxer upward of £16m guaranteed per fight.
But the four-weight champion would have the chance to earn more depending on how many subscribers each event generated.
The offer provides a similar structure to the way fighters are paid for pay-per-view events, where their money can be increased following the box office success.
DAZN’s deal with Golden Boy included one fight against a ‘premium’ opponent each year at the steaming service’s sole discretion.

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They had expected a trilogy fight with Alvarez and his rival Gennady Golovkin, with the first bout ending a draw in 2017 and Canelo winning the rematch a year later.
But Golden Boy’s terms with Alvarez suggested the boxer himself could choose his opponent.
It led to friction with Canelo snubbing 38-year-old GGG – who also fights on DAZN – in the opening three bouts with his new broadcasters.
But DAZN believe Golden Boy verbally promised a third clash between Alvarez and Golovkin.
Without the lucrative grudge match on their platform, DAZN hesitated on approving another Canelo fight, which would have cost them £28m.
Alvarez hit back this month by filing a £22m breach-of-contract lawsuit against both DAZN and Golden Boy.
He was due to challenge WBO super-middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders, 31, this May – until the coronavirus pandemic cancelled those plans.
Canelo has remained training, eager to box this year, with Callum Smith, 30, rivalling Saunders as frontrunner to land the mega-fight.

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DAZN believe they were promised a trilogy between Canelo and Gennady Golovkin Credit: AP:Associated Press

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Canelo has remained training in preparation to fight this year
But DAZN do not deem the British world champions ‘premium’ opponents.
Eyebrows were raised when it was revealed UFC pair Jorge Masvidal, 35, and Khabib Nurmagomedov, 31, as well as De La Hoya, 47, do fall under their approval.
The new deal put forward to Canelo gives him the chance to bank more than his initial contract and return to the ring by the year’s out.
But it would rest on him facing a Golovkin-style opponent.
Their first two fights each pulled in over 1m PPV buys, suggesting a third would boost DAZN subscribers.
Alvarez is said to be considering the offer as he decides on whether to continue his legal battle.
The proposed court case was initially dismissed due to an error related to where DAZN and Golden Boy do business.
Canelo has until Monday to refile the suit, but does so with the chance of going the other way and accepting DAZN’s latest proposal.

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