By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn is all bent out of shape today about the news that WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. may face IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander in a unification bout on May 4th instead of Alexander defending his IBF strap against his #1 IBF challenger Kell Brook, who Hearn promotes. Hearn says he’s going to fight hard to make sure Brook gets his title shot.
Hearn said on his twitter “We will fight tooth and nail for @SpecialKBrook… We questioned the injury and now we await news from @GoldenBoy Boxing which, given the news they are looking to enter the UK promoting market, should be interesting. We have a signed contract to fight Devon Alexander for the IBF Title. Number 2 If they want Alexander v Mayweather to be a unification they would have to ask for an exemption from the IBF which is very unlikely given we already have signed contracts AND any exemption would have to take place within 90 days of last bout.”
As you can see here, Hearn is making a big production about this, and it looks like he may do some serious bellyaching to the International Boxing Federation if the Mayweather-Alexander fight does take place with Alexander’s IBF title at stake.
I don’t see Alexander even carrying about the IBF strap. If Hearn is able to get the IBF to give Alexander an ultimatum about either him facing Brook or getting stripped of his IBF strap, you can bet Alexander is going to gladly give up the belt. Look at it this way. Alexander will get $5 million minimum for the Mayweather fight, and that’s a heck of a lot more than he’ll get for making title defenses of his IBF strap against the mostly sorry opposition the IBF has ranked in their top 15 at 147.
It would take Alexander close to two years to make that kind of cash if he were to hold onto the IBF strap and defend it successfully over and over again. Why keep the title if he can get the big cash now against Mayweather, and then turn around and beat the paper champion who picks it up. Brook will still be there for Alexander to beat after the Mayweather fight, so you can bet Alexander will give up the strap rather than saying no to a Mayweather fight.
I mean, what would you do if you were in Alexander’s place? Fight a little known fighter like Kell Brook, who American boxing fans have no idea who he is nor do they care, or fight Mayweather for the big cash and get a ton of attention worldwide.
Hearn can make a big deal out of this if he wants to but Alexander is going to follow the money rather than taking a title defense against Brook, if the Mayweather offer is legit. There’s no upside to Alexander smacking Brook around the ring because the money won’t be nearly as good as what he’ll get against Mayweather, and he won’t get any credit for blasting Brook out. Few American boxing fans have any clue one who Brook is, and they probably still won’t care even if Alexander smashes him to bits.
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