By Scott Gilfoid: It really pains me to say this but I think Eddie Hearn and his Matchroom Sport stable of fighters are going to be tasting some major losses in 2013, at least the ones that actually count. Hearn has got a number of fighters but not too many what you would call stars.
The stable consists of Darren Barker, Carl Froch, Kell Brook, Gavin Rees, Paul McClosley and some other guys that aren’t really on the radar screen.
Froch is going to lose to Mikkel Kessler, Andre Ward, and possibly Lucian Bute. I honestly can see Froch getting swept by this bunch in 2013, and having a dreadful year that may have Froch thinking of hanging up the old gloves. When he does lose those fights, it’s not going to be because he suddenly is a shot fighter or anything like that.
The reason he’ll lose to those guys is simply because their better fighters than him with superior hand speed and technique. Froch was already beaten by Ward and Kessler already, and those defeats weren’t fluke things or because Froch wasn’t mentally or physically. He lost because those guys had the talent, and he didn’t. I don’t see anything changing with him a little older. He’s kind of cocky right now because of his wins over Yusaf Mack and Bute, but he’ll be brought back down to earth in 2013 in a big way.
Brook will also taste the bitter taste of defeat in his fight against IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander on February 23rd in Detroit, Michigan. Brook has been talking big for ages about his talent, but if you look at the kind of god awful opposition he’s been fed all these years it’s clear that it’s hidden his lack of talent by allowing him to get wins that he wouldn’t get against the better fighters.
Alexander is going to badly school Brook and make him look like the same fighter that was getting beaten up in the ring by Carson Jones in July of this year. Brook will get beaten and there’s not much he can do about it.
McCloskey and Barker will likely win this year, but only because they likely won’t fight anyone remotely good, but those guys are so far behind the pack in their respective divisions that doesn’t matter what they do. They’re likely not going to be put with anyone good, so it doesn’t matter if they win all their fights in 2013, because the opposition will probably be god awful.
Gavin Rees has a fight coming up on February 16th against WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. That’s what you call a guaranteed knockout loss for Rees. Broner is going to give Rees a bad beating in this one-sided fights and it’s going to be painful to watch.
There you have it. Hearn’s top three fighters – Froch, Brook and Rees – are going to get taken apart in 2013, and come into 2014 in bad shape.
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