Khan: A fight with Brook is possible in the future

12/15/201212/14/2012 ESB

007KhanIMG_0152 By Michael Collins, photo Tom Casino/Showitme – Amir Khan (26-3, 18 KO’s) says he wouldn’t mind fighting Kell Brook if he can somehow, someway beat IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander in their fight in March. Khan says he might fight Brook under the condition that he holds the IBF 147 pound title, but he doesn’t seem all that eager either. Part of the problem that Khan has is he wants to avenge his losses to Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson, and if he chooses to put those fights off to go and take on Brook he won’t be able to quiet his critics in that manner. The only way he can do that is if he beats the guys that beat him.

Khan said to thesun.co.uk “If he [Brook] can get past that [Alexander], then there is a chance we could get it on in the future.”

The future likely means when and if Khan can take care of business at 140, and it also depends on whether Brook can beat Alexander and then hold onto the title long enough until Khan can move in weight in the future to face him. Those are all big ifs because Brook isn’t a world beater as we saw in his life and death struggle to beat Carson Jones.

Khan has a fight tomorrow night against Carlos Molina in Los Angeles, and he really needs this fight if he wants to be taken seriously as a contender.

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Brook-Alexander moved to March 2nd; Matthysse-Lundy still good for January 19th

12/13/201212/12/2012 ESB

By Jeff Sorby: The fight between IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander (24-1, 13 KO’s) and challenger Kell Brook (29-0, 19 KO’s) has been moved from January 19^th to March 2^nd due to Brook injuring one of his ankles and needing more time for it to heal. The January 19^th fight card will still go ahead, but it will be now headlined by WBC interim light welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse (32-2, 30 KO’s) defending his title against lightweight Hank Lundy (22-2-1, 11 KO’s) at the Nokia Theater, in Los Angeles, California, USA.

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Kell Brook Dazzles!

10/21/201210/21/2012 ESB

By John Wight – Sheffield’s Kell Brook returned to action on Saturday with a devastating performance against Argentina’s Hector Saldivia, which ended in a third round stoppage to earn the fighter known as ‘The Special One’ a crack at the IBF world title against the newly installed incumbent Devon Alexander, who defeated Randall Bailey on the same night in New York.

In front of a full house at Sheffield’s Motorpoint Arena, Brook was under added pressure to put in a convincing performance after his previous run out against Carson Jones back in July, which ended in a hard fought and unconvincing decision on points. Brook had boxed well against his American opponent for the first half of the fight, but Jones kept coming and forced Brook to dig deep as he began to run out of gas in the second half of the fight

In the aftermath, criticisms of Brook’s preparations and attitude were voiced by his promoter Eddie Hearn, and there was even talk of replacing Brendan Ingle and his son Dominic as Brook’s trainers with Rob McCracken.

However, after this latest performance, these rumours will have been dispelled, as the Kell Brook who stormed to victory with a display of power punching that will have the Alexander camp concerned was a revelation.

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Brook stops Saldivia in 3rd round

10/21/201210/21/2012 ESB

By Michael Collins: Unbeaten Kell Brook (29-0, 19 KO’s) did a demolition job on an outclassed Hector Saldivia (41-3, 32 KO’s), stopping him in the 3rd round in this IBF welterweight eliminator bout at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Saldivia was knocked down twice in the fight, once in the 1st and a final time in the 3rd. In the 3rd, Brook hit Saldivia with a hard jab that knocked him down. Saldivia got back to his feet but referee Howard Foster rightfully stopped the fight at :28 of the round.

Brook had Saldivia down in the 1st from a right hand. The remainder of that round saw Saldivia running and just trying to keep fro getting knocked out. The second round was mostly Brook landing jabs, uppercuts, right hands and left hooks while Saldivia took them clean in the face like a good sparring partner. In the tail end of the round, Saldivia came alive, landing a handful of shots that had Brook in distress. However, the round ended before Saldivia could do anything more.

There really wasn’t much to the fight. Saldivia threw next to no punches and was put down in the 1st round from a right hand. What jumped out at you in watching this fight was how did Saldivia get ranked #3 by the IBF? He looked worse than any of the top 15 contenders for any of the sanctioning bodies, and just made the fight look like a joke from start to finish. It was clear from watching the first 10 seconds of the fight that Saldivia didn’t belong out there, and the IBF didn’t do him or their own company any service by ranking Saldivia so highly when he didn’t have the skills to be fighting at this level.

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Kell Brook-Hector Saldivia: Brook’s final step to World title

10/20/201210/19/2012 ESB

By Peter Wells: It’s taken 8 years for the Sheffield prospect to get to the edge of a world title fight. Tommorow night Kell Brook fights in a final eliminator for the IBF Welterweight title. Brook has gone as far as stating that he will retire if he loses to Hector Saldivia at the Motorpoint arena in his hometown of Sheffield. This is likely a comment to build up his fight and over dramatise how important this bout is for his career. For some fighters chances at a world title don’t come terribly often so Brook wants to make sure he doesn’t miss his chance to book a shot at the IBF title.

Brook may have waited a while for his shot at a world title, but Saldivia has had just as long to wait. Final eliminators also haven’t gone well for the Argentinian in the past. On the 1st May 2010 he faced off against Said Ouali in an eliminator for the WBA Welterweight title. Saldivia came out strong scoring an early knockdown, but got too caught up in the moment and went down twice before the referee stepped in to end the fight. Said never got his WBA title shot, instead looking at the IBF route, before losing in 7 rounds last year to Carson Jones.

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Kell Brook putting pressure on himself to beat Salidivia on Saturday

10/18/201210/17/2012 ESB

By Marcus Richardson: Undefeated welterweight contender Kell Brook (28-0, 18 KO’s) recently chose not to take an important fight against WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley in order to fight Argentinian Hector Saldivia (41-2, 32 KO’s) in an IBF welterweight eliminator bout on October 20th at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Brook unbelievably chose not to fight Bradley for his WBO title just so that Brook could fight in risky IBF eliminator with the winner of that fight getting a shot against the winner of this Saturday’s fight between Randall Bailey and Devon Alexander.

Brook is talking about wanting to retire if he doesn’t win this fight on Saturday night against Saldivia. Of course, Brook obviously wouldn’t retire if he were to get beaten by Saldivia and even if he did retire, it would likely be one of those boxing retirements that mean absolutely nothing because the fighter or fighters often come back months later out of boredom or a need for money.

Brook said to thesun.co.uk “People keep saying I have talent, so if I can’t get rid of guys like Saldivia then I don’t deserve to be at this level.”

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Hatton can’t decide who he’d do better against – Khan or Kell Brook

09/14/201610/06/2012 ESB

Hatton can't decide who he'd do better against - Khan or Kell Brook By Michael Collins: Former two division world champion Ricky Hatton returns to the ring next month against former WBA World welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko on November 24th in Manchester, England. If Hatton looks really good in blowing out Senchenko, he could find the pressure mounting for him to fight Amir Khan or Kell Brook in fights that would be positively huge in the UK. Hatton, 33, still wants to prove himself worthy of facing both of those guys by getting past Senchenko in style and perhaps some other fighters.

In an interview by Kugan Cassius of IFilm London, Hatton said “It’s really hard to say [who Hatton would do better against]. I’d have to sit on the fence and go right down the middle. If Amir Khan gets drawn into a fight, it goes to the blue corner. But if Amir sticks to his boxing ability and moves and uses his hand speed, then obviously you’d have to side with Amir by a slight edge. I really can’t split between the two of them.”

Hatton goes onto say that he has to prove himself against Senchenko before he’s mentioned with Khan and Brook. However, I just wonder how much Hatton will have proven even if he does blow out Senchenko.

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Ricky Hatton wants Mayweather, Pacquiao, Khan and Brook

09/14/201609/15/2012 ESB

Ricky Hatton wants Mayweather, Pacquiao, Khan and Brook By Michael Collins: Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) is like a big kid in a candy store now that he’s decided to make a comeback on November 24th against who knows what kind of opponent. Hatton, 33, will be fighting in Manchester, England on the 24th of November and his opponent will probably be a soft touch brought in for him to shake off the ring rust from three years of inactivity huge weight gain. Hatton says he’s interested in facing Amir Khan, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao and Kell Brook. That’s a pretty impressive list I must say, but I don’t know that Hatton’s chances are good at beating any of them.

Even a fragile chinned Khan or the stamina plagued Brook could be enough to trip Hatton up before he’s had the chance to make the really cash in fights against Mayweather and/or Pacquiao. If Hatton is serious about wanting Mayweather or Pacquiao, he’s going to need to skip the Khan and Brook fights and go straight to Mayweather or Pacquiao. Those guys are getting older and it’s doubtful they’ll be hanging around too much longer.

Hatton told the Manchester Evening News “I’d love to get a crack at them [Khan and Brook]. I dream about another go at Mayweather and Pacquiao, without a doubt. The ultimate goal is to redeem myself.”

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