Kell Brook previews Terence Crawford

Kell Brook goes 1-on-1 with Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole to discuss his upcoming challenge against Terence Crawford for his WBO welterweight world title.

Video Transcript

KEVIN IOLE: Hey folks. I am Kevin Iole. And we are only a few days away from the next title defense of WBO Welterweight Champion, Terence Crawford. He has a tough fight lined up. He is going up against Kell Brook, a guy who's fought a lot of tough guys.

Kell is joining me now. You can catch that fight on ESPN in the United States and on Premier Sports in the UK. Kell, how are you doing right now?

KELL BROOK: I'm doing great. I'm in Las Vegas. I'm enjoying the sunshine. I'm enjoying the crazy American people.

KEVIN IOLE: Yeah. You came on a crazy day, election day.

KELL BROOK: Yeah! I've got the doors locked. Put it that way. I've not managed to get a gun. But I've got the doors locked.

KEVIN IOLE: Atta baby. Be safe. That's what you need. So we want to see you on that November 14. Hey, let's start with this.

You know, I mean, you have been no stranger to big fights. You know, you fought Gennady Golovkin. You fought Errol Spence. You fought Shawn Porter, a lot of tough guys.

When you look at Terence Crawford, some people have him as the pound for pound best fighter in the world. Other people, like myself, have him second or a little bit lower. But, obviously, he's one of the best. How does he compare to those guys that you've fought before, those elite guys that you've been in the ring with?

KELL BROOK: I think he's amongst them. He's, definitely, amongst them, yeah, if not the top-- you know, the top. But he-- he's not-- he's not ever-- he's not ever been-- he's not-- he's not-- he's not fought anybody yet for me. He's not fought anyone with my pedigree.

I don't believe that he's boxed anyone the size of me, and the determination, and the power. I think he's boxed smaller guys. We're forgetting that he came from lightweight all up to welterweight.

KEVIN IOLE: Right.

KELL BROOK: And I've always competed at welterweight and even-- I've even been in there with middleweight. I think Golovkin in light middleweight, I mean super welterweight. So, you know, I'm a big, strong guy with experience. And these, all the elite fighters with the eye injuries were the guys who have beat me. So, I mean, I've-- you never stop learning.

And I've took care of myself. I don't-- I'm not letting me weight balloon up and down like I have in some previous fights. So I'm very confident. I've been able to fuel myself big, you know, for each session, instead of set it up in minimal calories and not getting the best out of myself. So I've done everything asked for me in this training camp.

And I've been-- all I've been living and breathing these last three or four months is Terence Crawford. So, you know, I'm ready for this fight. I'm more than ready for this fight.

And these doubters out there who haven't got me as the favorite, you know, they're the ones that motivate me in this fight. You know, because I know-- I know what's in me. I know what's in my heart, and in there, and what I can do. And I believe that I'mma go out there and I'mma shock the world again.

KEVIN IOLE: I think, you know, obviously, the people in the UK are far more familiar with your game. You've only fought three times in the US. And so that's been a thing that I think people here haven't had a chance to see you in person fight. So, you know, that is a big issue. And it's your first time in Las Vegas after, what, 42 fights. It's pretty amazing that you're finally fighting--

KELL BROOK: Yeah.

KEVIN IOLE: --in Las Vegas. Let's-- let's go with this question, some people here might look at your Golovkin fight, might look the-- at the Spence fight, and you got beat up pretty badly. You got hurt in those fights. And they might say, Kell Brook is a washed up guy.

He's-- he was a good fighter at one point, that he's over the hill. Crawford's taking another easy fight. What is your response to people who say that?

KELL BROOK: Chew on them. Chew on them because I know different. I know what I put myself through in training. I know what me mental-- me mental and me strengths that I've got, the power and the accuracy I've got. I'm a different fighter to what I've been before.

I'm a better fighter than the Shawn Porter. I'm a better fighter. You know, people go on about age. He's no spring chicken. He's a year younger than me.

He's not no 20-- he's a year younger than me, you know. It's not like I've been in-- been in gruesome fights with 12-round hard wars. I've had two eye injuries and, most of the time, on top, you know. And I feel revived. I feel-- I feel this is my time.

You know, everyone's got their own opinion. Of course, they have. You know, and looking in, rightly so, they can say this. But what I know is that I'm going to shock the world. And you see this time and time again in boxing.

You've seen it time and time again. You've seen it not too long ago, a little 24-year-old gave Teofimo Lopez beating, Lomachenko. You know, Wilder, Fury-- everyone thought that, you know, Wilder was going to take care of Fury. And look at that. And the list goes on.

You know, the list goes on and on. This is boxing. You know, this is boxing. And the fights are won way before the bright lights, as you know. As Muhammad Ali says, they're won before the bright light.

And I've been putting that work into the gym. I've been putting the work in. I've been watching my weight.

And I'm going to be ready. That's all I can say. I'm going to be ready to dethrone the pound for pound king in this boxing.

KEVIN IOLE: There hasn't-- you know, if you watch Crawford's career, which I've done very closely, you know, there haven't been a lot of chinks in the armor. But, you know, maybe if you're going to be hypercritical of him, if you look at the Kavaliauskas fight the last time, you know, it might not have been his best performance. You know, when you look at that fight, do you use that to judge him at all, you know, say, this is the kind of guy I can expect?

KELL BROOK: No, I don't. I don't. Listen, you know, you can have them-- you can have them nights. I'm looking at the best, best ever Terence Crawford. And he is going to be a hard man to deal with.

Of course, he is. You know, does everything great in the game. But I do also. But I-- I've got that mental strength. I've got that-- I'm ready to-- I'm ready to go through walls to get this win.

I'm ready to go through brick walls. I'm ready to land these accurate shots, what I possess. And I've got power to hurt any man. So it's just, you know, this is a boxing ring-- I'm a [INAUDIBLE] And he's-- and I can see him getting the wobble on.

And then me taking-- I'm a great finisher. You know, not let him off the hook. I'm ready for a war. I'm ready-- I'm ready to do whatever needed to be done on the floor. I'mma leave it all in that ring.

You know, because, you know, this is-- this is the opportunity that I've got, you know. I need to leave it all in the ring. I need to give it me absolute best I could ever be.

You know, and that's what-- of course, that's what's needed in this fight. I need to be the very-- better than I've ever boxed before, better than the Porter win, better than me best win of all. I need to be-- do it bang on. And I mean-- I'm on line to performing that.

KEVIN IOLE: You mentioned the Porter win. In my opinion, just looking at your career-- and I haven't seen all your fights, but I've seen quite a few of your fights-- I would say that is the best win that I, you know, I have seen you have. Who do you feel is your most significant win? Was it Shawn? Or was there another fight that you think stands out that is representative of Kell Brook at his best?

KELL BROOK: There's a lot of fights where I felt-- it's how you feel in them, you know, how you feel. Their position might have been in with Shawn Porter. But how I felt and how I've felt in different fights, you know, that the guys weren't on the level of Porter. But I could took care of him and stopped him. But how I felt in the fights, that's all I can go on, how I felt.

But, obviously, you've got to look at the win, from coming overseas and taking-- taking the title off the champion, you've got to put it as number one. And that-- and I did. And I did box great that night, yeah. So you'd have to call that as number one, wouldn't you?

KEVIN IOLE: True. I wonder, you know, you left the UK, where just the lockdown is beginning, right? Another lockdown is beginning in the UK because of the coronavirus. And you come over here to the US where we have the most cases in the world and all that, right.

So you get into a very difficult spot. Has that affected your training at all? And have you been able to do the things that you need to do, and get the sparring partners and all that, given the virus?

KELL BROOK: Considering, yeah, I have. You know, I give myself more time to arrange sparring. And, you know, I've just given more time to, obviously, come round this coronavirus and work it out. Because we don't want to get it wrong in a fight like this, you know. We do-- it's affected everybody.

I know that it's affected everybody. And everybody, you know, is finding it hard as well. But, you know, I'm happy-- I'm happy that we got the work done, what we needed to get done. We got the sparring partners. We got the sparring when we needed to get the sparring.

We got the work in we needed to get done. And I've been happier with all this time, even through this COVID. I've always been-- this is probably up there with the happiest I've been in training camp, you know, even with this going on.

So there's nothing, really, I can say bad about this training. There's no excuses from me. I'm going to be completely and utterly ready for war on the 14th.

KEVIN IOLE: Can you give me an idea-- like I don't want to make this a political thing-- but, you know, in the US, you know, it's become a political issue. You're on one side, you're against masks. You're on the other side, you're for masks. What is it like in the UK? I mean, are people, you know, united on the need, one way or the other, whether to wear a mask or how to defeat the coronavirus?

KELL BROOK: Everyone's got-- everyone's got a different view. Everyone's got their own opinion on the COVID, everybody. You know, but we stick to rules. You know, we have to wear masks, like we should do and follow the rules, and try and bring-- and try and bring the case down. Or, you know, try and-- you know, try and keep the cases down because Christmas is coming and people want to be there with their loved ones they don't want to be on lockdown away from their family members.

So you need to get your mask on. And you need to listen to the guidelines, what's needed, you know, for us all to unite again and get rid of this virus. So I think we're all in the same boat with it.

KEVIN IOLE: Yeah. You know, you're everything you're going through to get to this fight, you know, you're-- all the stuff that you had to go through with COVID, then you have to fly halfway around the world, that type of thing, what would it mean to you, if you were able to defeat Terence Crawford and win this championship? And, you know, obviously, this would be your biggest win. What would the significance mean to you?

KELL BROOK: Words can't be-- I can't really come out with any words about, you know, on it. You know, it's what every fighter dreams about, fighting in Las Vegas. I mean, having your name up in lights in Las Vegas. Every young kid-- I'm from England, and we all dream about Madison Square Garden or, you know, or MGM Las Vegas. And I'm fighting for the world title with the arguable pound for pound best fighter in the world.

And I'm here through this COVID and everything else we've had to go through. You'd have to say-- what could you say? You know, the emotions would just be-- it's going to be insane, you know, in-- you know, getting that win. You know, going through everything we've been going through and coming out with a-- with this win, wow, all I can say is, wow.

KEVIN IOLE: On November 14, you can catch this young man, young to me, Kell Brook, going up against Terence Crawford.

KELL BROOK: I'm old.

KEVIN IOLE: Yeah. You're old in boxing, but not old to me. You are a young fellow.

On November-- excuse me-- November 14 on ESPN in the US, Premier Sports in the UK. Kell, thank you so much. Best of luck to you.

KELL BROOK: Thank you.

KEVIN IOLE: Be well, brother.