Former IBF welterweight champ Kell Brook is not ready to call it quits just yet. Despite losing back to back against Gennady Golovkin and Errol Spence – Brook going to hospital after both stoppage defeats, his eye socket broken by both men; each side – the Sheffield man is stepping up to 154.
Promoter Eddie Hearn wanted Brook to move up earlier than now, in fact after the brave but somewhat gung-ho decision to challenge middleweight king Golovkin, but Brook didn’t want to vacate his 147 pound belt. Now that he’s lost it, Brook will pack on the pounds and go to 154 (or he will not have to undergo the agony of shedding weight to make the 147 limit).
Can Brook win a title at super-welter?
There are some fine champions reigning at 154: Jermell Charlo (arguably the best of the current 154 champs), Erislandy Lara and Jarrett Hurd holding the belts. Brook – who told Sky Sports how he was oh, so close to facing Puerto Rican legend Miguel Cotto in the four-weight champ’s career swansong instead of Sadam Ali – says he will look to go for a belt after a return fight next spring.
“I think I’ll have a meaningful fight, a comeback fight, a warm-up fight, and then we’ll be looking at jumping back on the high horse for a world title,” Brook informed Sky Sports. “They are all very good fighters, they’re all world champions, they’re all talented fighters. Once I come back with a win, and my confidence is up there again, I’ll be looking at those names.”
But will those names, those champions, be looking at Brook? Brook has had just one world title fight in the US – his close-shave points win over Shawn Porter, when he won the IBF welterweight belt – but he has otherwise boxed at home. Will Charlo, Lara, etc want to come to the UK to defend against Brook? The question could be asked: what would these fighters gain from a win over Brook?
Spence travelled to Sheffield because Brook had something he wanted, while GGG came because he was paid a shed-load of cash (and the pound-for-pound star was being shamelessly avoided by most of the top fighters). But can Hearn lure a Charlo, a Lara or a Hurd overseas to face Brook?
It could be a tougher road back to a world title than “The Special One” perhaps thinks it will be.
