By Scott Gilfoid: After seeing how easily IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (24-0-1, 15 KO’s) dispatched former two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi (33-6, 7 KO’s) last night in Porter’s 4th round TKO win at the DC Armory in Washington, DC., I think No.1 IBF Kell Brook (32-0, 22 KO’s) is going to have major problems trying to beat him.
Not only will Brook have to leave his home country of the UK to take the fight in the United States, but he’s going to have to figure out how to fight on the inside against the brawling Porter. I don’t think that’s humanely possible for Brook to do in one training camp. Brook struggled in his first fight against Carson Jones in 2012 when the American smothered Brook’s offense and forced him to fight on the inside for long stretches.
The thing is Carson Jones is not even close to being the same kind of inside fighter as Porter. Brook is going to find himself against the ropes for as long as his fight lasts against Porter, and he’s going to take a lot of punishment.
Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn is going to need to think long and hard about whether it’s wise to have Brook challenge Porter, because this is a much tougher fight for Brook than it would have been had Devon Alexander still had possession of the title. Hearn might want to have Brook go in another direction instead of taking on Porter for his IBF title. I mean, Brook doesn’t have to take the fight with Porter.
He can always back out and wait in line for a shot against the WBO champion Manny Pacquiao or WBC champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. Yes, Brook will be waiting for another 2-3 years for a title shot, but it’s probably better for him to wait than it would be for him to take on Porter an end up being obliterated the same way Malignaggi was.
What I’d hate to see is Brook take the fight with Porter, but then suffer a series of injuries during training camp and not end up taking the fight. We saw this from Brook when he was scheduled to fight Devon Alexander when he was the IBF welterweight champion. Alexander ended up wasting time waiting for Brook’s injuries to heal, and he finally just gave up and moved on.
Brook has been a pro for 10 years, and he’s yet to fight a really quality fighter during all that time. I don’t know why he hasn’t been put in with any good opponents, but he might as continue with the soft match-making for another 2 years or so until after Pacquiao and Mayweather retire, because I don’t see either of those fighters giving Brook a title shot.
Even if he were to work his way to No.1 with the WBC and WBO, he’s probably not going to get a fight against those big stars, and the sanctioning bodies aren’t going to push them to take on Brook. Heck, if they did that, Pacquiao and Mayweather would likely vacate their titles rather than face an obscure challenger like Brook. With the sanctioning fees that Pacquiao and Mayweather bring in for the WBO and WBC, they’re not going to force them to face a little known fighter like Brook.
It could have been different for Brook if he had been facing high quality opposition during the past 5 years the way that Amir Khan has. Brook should have stepped it up in 2009 and started fighting well known opponents instead of guys like Matthew Hatton, Hector David Saldivia, Luis Galarza, and Philip Kotey.
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