By Scott Gilfoid: IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (24-0-1, 15 KO’s) has signed for his title defense against #1 IBF Kell Brook (32-0, 22 KO’s), and they’re now looking at one of two dates in September for the fight to take place in either September 6th or the 16th. The venue will obviously be in the United States, because there’s no way that Porter, the champion, is going to fight in the UK to accommodate Brook and his fans.
It’s going to be a fight where Brook is going to have to travel for one of the rare occasions in his career, and he’s going to have to deal with not being the one cheered constantly during the fight like he normally is when fighting at home in Sheffield.
“Now they’re talking about September 6 or September 16th, so I really don’t know,” Hearn said to RingTV.com. “I really don’t care where the fight takes place. Within the contract, the fight has to happen before September 10.”
As long as Brook is getting his title shot, Hearn should be happy because if Porter is stripped of his IBF belt or if he vacates it, Brook will be fighting Jo Jo Dan for the vacant IBF title, and that’ll make Brook look like a paper champion in the eyes of many boxing fans because Dan, rated No.2 by the IBF, has a ranking that seems a tad bit inflated in my view.
I don’t see Dan as a top 15 welterweight, and the fact that the IBF has him rated above Tim Bradley and Devon Alexander is unsettling to say the least. When you see rankings like that, it makes you wonder what the IBF was thinking when they sat down to decide on their 147lb rankings.
The good news is that Brook is on the verge of getting his title shot against Porter now that the American has signed for the fight. The bad news is that Brook is facing a guy a lot better than anyone he’s ever faced before, and he’s not had the preparation to fight a guy like Porter before. After 10 years as a pro, Brook has done precious little and has matched like a novice rather than a contender all these years.
When you do your fighter favors by matching him softly for 10 years you get a fighter who is likely to be way, way out of his depth when he’s matched against his first solid fighter. I think that’s what we’re going to see with Brook.
If and when Brook loses his fight to Porter, Brook really needs to think about becoming a little more assertive with his matchmaking so that he’s being put in with better opposition. If he keeps getting put in with the Matthew Hatton types, he needs to put his foot down and tell Hearn that he doesn’t want any more of the fodder opposition, and instead wants to be put in with the best. Ideally, Brook needs to move his operations to a place where he’s going to have the best training and sparring that he can get.
I’d suggest that he start training at the Wildcard Gym in Los Angeles, California. If he could sign on with someone like Freddie Roach or Virgil Hunter, they could help improve him. Hunter would help Brook a ton by teaching him some defense and how to fight on the inside. I think it would be a big career move for him.
Comments are closed.