If Kell Brook pulls off the upset this weekend and dethrones Terence Crawford in Las Vegas, he believes it will rank as one of the greatest wins by a British boxer in history.

It is 3½ years since Brook lost his IBF welterweight title to Errol Spence and six years since his biggest win over Shawn Porter. He has not even made the weight since the Spence fight, so no surprise people are writing him off. Brook, too, knows the task he faces to try and claim Crawford’s WBO title.

“I think you’d have to put this one up there,” Brook said when asked how big a win would be. “Because of what I’ve been through and because everybody is writing me off. Nobody is giving me a chance in this fight.

“Look at Joe Calzaghe against Jeff Lacy. That’s one performance that springs to mind for me. How Joe went out and dominated that fight. That’s what I'm looking for.

“This guy is arguably the best fighter in the world. Me not making welterweight for so many years, I’ve had my eyes injuries and my losses, everybody is saying I’m washed up. So for me to go out there and to put the performance on that’s needed to capture that world title, I think you'd have to put that right up there. You’ve got to.”

Brook is now 34. For the trip to Las Vegas he will not have Dominic Ingle in his corner. Neither will the fight be shown on Sky Sports, his broadcaster for years, after a seemingly messy falling out with Eddie Hearn. Premier Sports have stepped in to screen the fight in the UK. 

But Brook is not lacking in bravado. This is the big fight he has been waiting for, the chance he has craved. He insists there are no weight concerns. He says he is ready to shock the world.

“As long as I know what’s what, how I’m feeling and what I’m weighing then there’s no stress,” he said. “There’s no rehydration clause, it’s all positive for me. There’s no magnifying glass on me and I know what I can do when I’m 100 percent, which I am. 

“I know the odds are against me and that motivates me. I know it’s all laid out for me to go out there and do it. All the pressure is on Terence Crawford. It’s not like I'm in for a payday, I’m in for greatness. I’m in to make history, become a two-weight world champion and bring it back to Britain.

“I’m not here to make the numbers up, I’m here to become the undisputed king of the welterweight division and be in the pound-for-pound list.”

Brook believes that his new trainer, Carlos Formento, has found the key to beating Crawford.

“I know I'm in with Terence Crawford and he’s a big deal,” Brook said. “I’m not interested in where he is on the pound-for-pound list. I’m interested in Terence Crawford the man. That’s what I'm focused in on. 

“Every day in camp, Carlos Formento is dragging me to one side because he's studying him. He’s watched all his fights and he’s showing me the shots that are going to catch him. We go into the gym, we’ve been sparring Fernando Vargas’s son, a terrific southpaw, we've worked on things we will do in the fight and we’ve nailed it.”

Apart from two short spells, one with Dave Coldwell and one with John Fewkes, Brook had been trained by Ingle for his whole career, having learnt to box as a young boy under the guidance of Ingle’s late father, Brendan.

But he has seldom felt more confident going into a fight, having got in shape during a lengthy training camp in Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands.

“It is a big change but we’re in a very strange time for the world with Covid and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” he said. “This opportunity came for me, I'm not going to let it pass me, I grabbed it with both hands. 

“I needed to be selfish, take myself away from my daughters. I couldn’t be in Sheffield, I couldn't be driving back and forth, 40 minutes to the gym, plus all the distractions that are in Sheffield. I needed to take myself away from my family, my girls, and start working on a plan to be the champion of the world again.

“I don’t feel like an old 34 year old, that’s just a number. We saw that Alexander Povetkin and Dillian Whyte. It doesn’t matter the age. I can do whatever I want to do. I’m aiming for the stars.”

Crawford v Brook will be shown live in the UK on Premier Sport

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for Boxing Scene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.