By William Mackay: Sky Sports analyst Glenn McCrory believes that unbeaten welterweight contender Kell Brook (25-0, 17 KO’s) is ready for a title shot against IBF welterweight champion Andre Berto (28-1, 22 KO’s) and he thinks he should shoot for that fight next rather than taking on a weaker fighter.

Brook defeated Rafal Jackiewicz by a 6th round TKO last weekend in yet another fight where Brook was set up with a guy without much offensive skills or a chance to beat him. The knock on Brook is that he’s been matched against such weak 2nd tier opponents his entire 8-year pro career that some boxing fans think he’s been held back by the soft match making.

McCrory told Sky Sports News “I would go straight for Andre Berto. Eddie Hearn [Brook’s promoter] has said Lou Dibella [Berto’s promoter] and Golden Boy are up for it, so why not? They want to get Kell in against the big names in America and Berto is just that.”

Personally, I think that’s a good way for Brook to get knocked out. I do agree 100 per cent that it’s time for Brook to finally step it up against quality opposition instead of the pablum that he’s been fed for eight years, but you don’t go from a soft diet of 2nd tier opposition to a world class fighter like Berto.

In looking at the differences between Brook and Berto, I’d say that Berto isn’t just a little bit better, he’s a lot better. He’s much, much faster in terms of hand speed, has a lot better power and has faced be far the superior opposition. Indeed, Berto has been facing high quality opposition since 2007 in only his 3rd year as a pro, whereas Brook has been fighting for 8 years and has still never fought a quality opponent. Jackiewicz (38-10-1, 19 KO’s) was technically a top tier fighter, but I don’t agree with the IBF ranking of that guy at number #5 at all. This was more of the same soft opposition for Brook that he’s been accustomed to fighting his entire career.