By Yannis Mihanos: Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs) proved himself as a formidable opponent with his performance against the very aggressive IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (24-1-1, 15 KOs) in beating him by a 12 round decision to win his IBF title last Saturday night at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

Brook proved that he can be an attraction for the American audience and worldwide.

Kell showed athleticism, clear mind and determination at its best. He showed also that he has tough chin and guts. There are some exciting fights lying ahead for Brook.

The name of Floyd Mayweather Jr is always at the top of the list for any fighter in the welterweight division and beyond.

I believe that Brook is still a bit far from being selected as his next opponent. But not as far as some may think, it could be just 1 or 2 fights max.

As history repeats often, there examples to look up to and examples to avoid.

Back about over a year ago another UK fighter was considered as a future opponent for Mayweather, it was Amir Khan.

Khan after his 2 consecutive defeats from the hands of Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson had decided to change all his training team. The new plan was to pick opponents close or worse from his range (Carlos Molina ad Julio Diaz) more like tune up fights, just to build up the momentum and confidence. It’s a tactic that many trainers and fighters follow.

The plan to stay unbeaten was met but the target for major improvement was not. His performances against these 2 last fighters were not convincing at all.

Last September after the end of the fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Floyd hinted that Khan could be his next opponent. That created big expectations from the Khan team.

But soon afterwards instead to expect seeing a more active in the ring Khan it happened the exact opposite; he found ways to refuse and avoid to fight anyone after September with the hope that Floyd would keep his word and be gracious enough to hand him a position along with him in the ring.

Of course that never happened and the rest is history.

So what history is teaching here for Brook is that you must fight and take the risks necessary even if you have to lose, otherwise you don’t convince those who are watching you and those who want to fight you.

Brook needs to keep up picking serious opponents. At this stage of his career this is the only way to keep going forwards and to the right direction.

At this point a fight against Keith “One Time” Thurman would be ideal. Thurman has shown that he is a dangerous opponent for anybody anytime. This I believe would be an entertaining fight.

Boxing needs fights with meaning and the fans also want to get real value out of their ticket. Fights like these can certainly deliver this value.

There is always the temptation to lay low after a tough fight like this against Porter and look to stay unbeaten, but the real good fighters never back away from new challenges, they just continue on their chosen path.