Dominic Ingle, the trainer for unbeaten Kell Brook (30-0, 20 KO’s), is expecting a tough fight for him this Saturday night against former WBA welterweight title holder Vyacheslav Senchenko (34-1, 23 KO’s), but ultimately Ingle sees Brook getting to him past the 9th round to record a knockout in this fight in their IBF eliminator bout at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, UK.
Brook needs a victory in this fight to move forward for another shot against IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander.
Brook fought a won an IBF eliminator last year in defeating Hector Saldivia. But then unfortunately Brook suffered two injuries that got in the way of his title shot against Alexander. This time Brook intends on making the most of his opportunities by beating the 36-year-old Senchenko, and then finally getting his shot against Alexander.
Ingle said to Sky Sports “It’s another tough test for Kell. But we can’t be giving him easy fights – we’ve got to maintain him at this level if he wants to be world champion, he’s got to take these tough fights…But I’m thinking somewhere after the 9th Kell will catch up with him. He’ll either stop him on his feet, or he’ll mess him up and the referee will have to stop it.”
This might not be as tough a fight as Ingle thinks it is because Senchenko is very beatable, and he’s probably more in the class of being a fringe contender rather than #8 IBF. There are better contenders in the division than Senchenko such as Jessie Vargas, Jesus Soto Karass and Marcos Maidana, and it’s unfortunate that we’re not getting a chance to see Brook in against one of them because that would be a truer test for Brook.
Senchenko is more like a speed bump for Brook than a tough fight. If it does turn out to be a tough fight for Brook, then that’s not a good sign for his potential to beat Devon Alexander in the future. Senchenko is someone that Brook has got to be able to handle with ease if he’s to be considered to be someone that can give Alexander a run for his money.
Senchenko has won his last two fights in beating Carlos Adan Jerez and Ricky Hatton, both by stoppage victories. In his fight before that, Senchenko was stopped by Paulie Malignaggi by a 9th round TKO last year in April. That was a fight where Senchenko lost his WBA 147 lb. title, which he had held since 2009. Malignaggi didn’t do much against Senchenko other than jabbing him over and over again. Eventually Senchenko suffered a bad cut that caused the fight to be halted in the 9th. Don’t be surprised if Brook chooses to use the same fight strategy by staying on the outside and using his sharp jab as much as possible.
