Hearn: Kell Brook won’t vacate IBF title unless he gets mega-fight
Sean McDaniel - September 15, 2016 Leave a Comment
Share the post "Hearn: Kell Brook won’t vacate IBF title unless he gets mega-fight"
Kell Brook will NOT be vacating his International Boxing Federation welterweight title unless he gets a mega-fight off from one of the bigger names in the sport, says his promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport. Hearn is hoping that Brook’s next fight will be against Saul Canelo Alvarez, Amir Khan or Miguel Cotto.
Hearn believes that a fight against one of those guys is very possible for his next bout when he returns to the ring in 2017. Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) is currently nursing a broken right eye socket that he suffered in his last fight against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) last Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, England.
Brook’s trainer Dominic Ingle pulled him out of the fight in the 5th round by throwing in the towel after he started to get battered by Golovkin. Up until the fight was stopped in the 5th, it was a heroic effort by Brook a guy two weight divisions above him to a standstill in Golovkin.
Brook gave as good as he took until the fateful 5th, when his eye injury became too much of a problem for him to carry on. If Brook hadn’t suffered the injury, he would have had an excellent chance of beating Golovkin, because he getting the better of the Kazakhstan fighter through the first four rounds despite being injured. Without the injury, it might have been a clean sweep in the first four rounds by Brook.
”As far as Kell is concerned, he is still the IBF world welterweight champion and is reluctant to vacate that belt unless he gets a mega-fight in another division,” said Hearn to the Dailymail. “We will wait and see. In the meantime, he has been really down about the defeat , but that is his winning mentality.”
If Brook can’t get a big fight for his next match in 2017, then he’ll have to defend his IBF 147lb title against his mandatory challenger Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs). That wouldn’t be a fight that comparable to a match against popular fighters like Khan, Canelo and Cotto, but it would still be an exciting fight.
The 26-year-old Spence is viewed by many boxing fans as the next star in the 147lb division. The results of a fight between Brook and Spence would show whether it would be wise for Kell to stay at 147 or move up to 154 or even 160. Brook says he’s not 100 percent after he makes weight for his fights at welterweight. If he can still beat a fighter as talented as Spence, then there might not be any real reason for him to move up to 154 unless he can get a fight against Canelo or Cotto.
“There is already interest from HBO in a fight between Canelo Alvarez and Kell next May,” said Hearn. “Britain wants to see with Amir Khan should also be possible. Then there’s Miguel Cotto, which would be a huge fight. They are the three main ones we are looking at for his comeback. We want to go straight into a big one. There is no denying now that Kell’s stock has risen.”
Hearn: Kell Brook won’t vacate IBF title unless he gets mega-fight | Boxing News & Results
at them planning to have Brook just sit on the belt for the next 8 months while he heals.
Sean McDaniel - September 15, 2016 Leave a Comment
Share the post "Hearn: Kell Brook won’t vacate IBF title unless he gets mega-fight"
Kell Brook will NOT be vacating his International Boxing Federation welterweight title unless he gets a mega-fight off from one of the bigger names in the sport, says his promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport. Hearn is hoping that Brook’s next fight will be against Saul Canelo Alvarez, Amir Khan or Miguel Cotto.
Hearn believes that a fight against one of those guys is very possible for his next bout when he returns to the ring in 2017. Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) is currently nursing a broken right eye socket that he suffered in his last fight against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) last Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, England.
Brook’s trainer Dominic Ingle pulled him out of the fight in the 5th round by throwing in the towel after he started to get battered by Golovkin. Up until the fight was stopped in the 5th, it was a heroic effort by Brook a guy two weight divisions above him to a standstill in Golovkin.
Brook gave as good as he took until the fateful 5th, when his eye injury became too much of a problem for him to carry on. If Brook hadn’t suffered the injury, he would have had an excellent chance of beating Golovkin, because he getting the better of the Kazakhstan fighter through the first four rounds despite being injured. Without the injury, it might have been a clean sweep in the first four rounds by Brook.
”As far as Kell is concerned, he is still the IBF world welterweight champion and is reluctant to vacate that belt unless he gets a mega-fight in another division,” said Hearn to the Dailymail. “We will wait and see. In the meantime, he has been really down about the defeat , but that is his winning mentality.”
If Brook can’t get a big fight for his next match in 2017, then he’ll have to defend his IBF 147lb title against his mandatory challenger Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs). That wouldn’t be a fight that comparable to a match against popular fighters like Khan, Canelo and Cotto, but it would still be an exciting fight.
The 26-year-old Spence is viewed by many boxing fans as the next star in the 147lb division. The results of a fight between Brook and Spence would show whether it would be wise for Kell to stay at 147 or move up to 154 or even 160. Brook says he’s not 100 percent after he makes weight for his fights at welterweight. If he can still beat a fighter as talented as Spence, then there might not be any real reason for him to move up to 154 unless he can get a fight against Canelo or Cotto.
“There is already interest from HBO in a fight between Canelo Alvarez and Kell next May,” said Hearn. “Britain wants to see with Amir Khan should also be possible. Then there’s Miguel Cotto, which would be a huge fight. They are the three main ones we are looking at for his comeback. We want to go straight into a big one. There is no denying now that Kell’s stock has risen.”
Hearn: Kell Brook won’t vacate IBF title unless he gets mega-fight | Boxing News & Results
at them planning to have Brook just sit on the belt for the next 8 months while he heals.
