Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn will be looking to get IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs) back in the ring in the next four months possibly in December in a fight that he wants to place in Sheffield, a location where Brook frequently fights.
Hearn isn’t talking about an opponent yet, but it’s not expected to be a dangerous one. Hearn his eyes on trying to line up a big name for Brook in 2015 against one of the following fighters: Amir Khan, Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny Pacquiao of Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Hearn isn’t likely going to risk Brook missing out on a big payday by matching him tough for his next fight in December, because Brook isn’t really one of those invincible type guys as we saw in his fight against Shawn Porter last Saturday. The fight was much closer than the 116-112 and 117-111 scores that two of the judges gave out.
“I want to get in there with the very best fighters,” Brook said to Talksport.com. “I want to test myself and excite the fans to the maximum. The Khan fight would excite the fans in Britain and it looks like it could happen. That would be a massive fight, a bit like Froch-Groves.”
The Khan fight, if it actually happens, will be taking place next year, not this year. Khan is being lined up to face either Devon Alexander or Robert Guerrero next. He’s not going to fight Brook this year, because when that fight does take place, it’s going to need many months to market it to the British boxing public in order to maximize the revenue.
It’s still really hard to tell whether Brook is for real or not based on the Porter fight, because Brook was outworked for the full 12 rounds and he had to clinch frequently in order to get the win.
The question is could Brook had beaten Porter if he wasn’t allowed by the referee Pat Russell to clinch so often? Brook’s win was nice, but the clinching was off putting and it kind of puts a red flag out there for his future fights, especially one against Khan, who also holds a great deal. What we don’t want to see is two welterweights clinching nonstop for 12 rounds like laboring heavyweights.
If the Brook-Khan fight does take place next year, you’ve got to favor Khan by a wide margin simply because he does everything that Brook can do at a much higher level. Khan is faster, better defensively, and he moves a lot better than Brook. This wouldn’t be a fight that Brook could win using gimmicks like clinching, because Khan likes to clinch as well and he’ll be using it to shut down Brook’s attacks. Brook matches up better against shorter fighters that crowd him like Porter than he does against a taller guy with much better hand speed like Khan.
