By Scott Gilfoid: IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (34-0, 23 KOs) could be added to the May 30th undercard of the Kevin Mitchell vs. Jorge Linares fight card at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn wants to bring back Brook for the May 30th card despite the fact that he just finished fighting Jo Jo Dan on March 28th.
That means that Brook and whoever his opponent would be would have less than two months to prepare for the fight. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that we’re probably going to be talking about an even lesser opponent than Brook’s last fight against Jo Jo Dan.
For Brook to be able to fight on May 30th, Hearn is going to need to find someone for him to fight quickly, and I don’t see him being able to find a live body in the next few weeks. At best, I can see them finding someone who will have around a month to get ready for the fight. You’re not going to get anyone good if all they’re given is a month to prepare.
“I have told Eddie Hearn to get me out as soon as possible and I want to fight twice before the end of the summer, starting at the end of May,” Brook said via ESPN.com.
Also on the May 30th Linares-Mitchell card is featherweight champion Evgeny Gradovich defending his title against British challenger Lee Selby, unbeaten heavyweight contender Anthony Joshua facing journeyman Kevin Johnson.
“Originally, we were planning Kell’s next fight for July, but he is itching to fight again and we could bring him back as early as May,” Hearn said. “It’s been a frustrating period for him, but there is no stopping Kell now and we want to get him back in action as soon as possible.”
I like the original plan much better than Brook being rushed back to the ring on May 30th. At least if Brook fought in July, they might have a better chance of finding a halfway decent opponent, not that I see them actually putting someone good in with him. I mean, this is an optional title defense for Brook, which means Hearn is likely going to give Brook a title-milking fight no matter how much time he has to find someone.
I don’t see Hearn picking out anyone dangerous that could potentially beat Brook like Keith Thurman or Marcos Maidana. You can pretty much forget about Brandon Rios, a guy that Hearn and Brook have been mentioning recently as a possible next opponent. You can also forget about Juan Manuel Marquez taking the fight.
No way is he going to take a fight on just two months’ notice. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when/if Hearn asked Marquez if he’d be interested in facing Brook with just two months’ notice. I think Hearn would be laughed off the phone. The same goes for Rios. His promoter Bob Arum would never agree to something like that.
Brook and Hearn have both been talking about wanting to face Amir Khan on June 13th, but that’s impossible because Khan has Ramadan.
“My team spoke to Eddie two weeks ago and he knew June 13th is a no,” Khan said via his Twitter. “And they still called me out #pathetic. This can be the biggest fight UK has ever seen and you want to do it all in two months? And after beating Jo Jo?”
Khan is right. It almost seems like Hearn called Khan out just to name drop and make Brook look good. Why else would you call a guy out for June 13th if you know he’s not going to be available due to Ramadan?
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