Kell Brook will likely need to travel to U.S to fight Porter-Malignaggi winner

By Boxing News - 04/17/2014 - Comments

brook3By Scott Gilfoid: #1 IBF contender Kell Brook (32-0, 22 KO’s) will likely need to make one of his rare trips outside of the UK to fight on foreign soil if he wants to get a chance at facing the winner of this Saturday’s match-up between IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (23-0-1, 14 KO’s) and challenger Paulie Malignaggi (33-5, 7 KO’s) at the DC Armory, in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.

The 26-year-old Porter, who is the favorite to hold onto his IBF title on Saturday, isn’t going to travel to the UK to defend his title in front of Brook’s fans. That’s just not going to happen. Porter isn’t going to want to put himself into a situation where he might need to knock Brook out cold just to make sure he gets the win, so Brook is probably going to have to pack his suitcase for this fight.

Sadly, it would be only the second time in Brook’s career where he’s had to travel outside of the UK to take a fight. The other time was back in December of 2011 when he traveled to the U.S to defeated 2nd tier welterweight Luis Collazo by a 5th round TKO in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

If Malignaggi somehow beats Porter, then there’s a slight chance that he can be lured over to the UK if Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn makes it worthwhile for him to do so. In other words, Hearn will have to wave some green under Malignaggi’s nose to make him see how profitable it would be for him to fight in front of a hostile pro-Brook crowd.

For Malignaggi, it would depend on how well he sees his future prospects of holding onto his title once he gets past the Brook fight. If he thinks he has little chance of successfully being able to defend it against the likes of Devon Alexander, Jo Jo Dan and Leonard Bundu, then you can expect Malignaggi to accept an offer to travel to the UK and defend his title against Brook over there. But I don’t see Malignaggi doing so unless Hearn makes him a considerable offer, because Malignaggi can’t punch at all, so the chances of him scoring a knockout against Brook are virtually nonexistent. If Malignaggi can’t win a decision in Brook’s hometown, then Malignaggi would be basically traveling to the UK to lose his title if he agrees to the deal.

Malignaggi might be better off having Brook travel to the U.S to face him on the East Coast where Malignaggi has a huge fan base. He could stage the fight in New York at the Barclays Center, and it would be a great environment for that fight. Of course, none of this will happen if Malgnaggi can’t get past Porter on Saturday night.

Brook is being aimed at the right title for him. I mean, if he was being aimed at WBC champion Floyd Mayweather Jr or WBO champ Manny Pacquiao, he would have zero chance of winning those fights because those guys are clearly too talented for him. The same thing with WBA champion Marcos Maidana. I think Maidana bludgeon Brook into submission and do it fairly quickly. But by going after the weak link among the 4 welterweight champions in Porter, Brook has a chance of picking up a paper title.



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