By Scott Gilfoid: Errol Spence (20-0, 17 KOs) showed last night why people are picking him out to be Floyd Mayweather Jr’s replacement as the biggest star in the sport. Spence completely crushed Chris Algieri (21-3, 8 KOs) in knocking him around the ring like a rag doll before putting him out of his misery in the 5th round with a perfectly placed left hook to the head that left Algieri on the canvas in a pile of bruised flesh.
With Algieri’s scalp now in his possession, Spence is now targeting IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (35-0, 24 KOs) to take his IBF strap from him. Spence says he has no doubt in his mind that he’ll beat the 29-year-old Brook when he gets him inside the ring, and he’s willing to go over to England to wipe him out if he has to.
Spence says he has absolutely no fear of Brook. Whether Spence gets Brook next or not is entirely up to Brook. He’s been yapping about wanting to get a big money fight against one of the big names, but unfortunately that hasn’t happened. If Brook wants a big fight against the fighter that is going to be the star of the division within a short period of time, this is his chance. Spence is ready.
If Brook chooses not to fight him now, then he’s going to need to realize that he’ll have to fight Spence after he exhausts his next two voluntary defenses. The International Boxing Federation isn’t going to select another Kevin Bizier or Jo Jo Dan for Brook’s next IBF mandatory. Brook’s next mandatory won’t be an easy mark with an inflated ranking by the IBF. Brook will need to fight Spence, and I think it won’t be pretty when that happens.
Spence isn’t someone that Brook will be able to clinch 10+ times per round like did with Shawn Porter to keep him from throwing punches. As we saw last night, clinching doesn’t work against Spence. When you grab him in a clinch, he uses his free hand to brain you with power shots until you’re forced to let go. As such, Brook would actually need to throw punches to try and beat Spence, and I don’t see him having the talent to beat Spence or even hang with him. I think this fight will be a worse massacre than what we saw last night, because Brook is there to be hit when he’s not holding all night long like he did with Porter.
“Definitely, I’d like that fight next,” said Spence about a fight against Brook. “I’m the number one contender, so I’m next up to fight Kell Brook. That’s what I’m looking for. How will that fight go? I’ll win. Kell Brooks a great fighter. I’m taking nothing away from him, but I believe in my abilities and I believe in what I can do in the ring. I don’t know what Kell Brook’s thinking. If he comes here, I’ll fight him here. If I have to go over there, then I’m not scared of Kell Brook. I’m not scared to go out to England and bring the title back,” said Spence.
I think the chances are pretty good that Spence will need to go over to the UK to fight Brook next year, because no way do I see Brook and his promoter Eddie Hearn agreeing to come over to the U.S to fight Spence. It’ll work out well for Spence anyway because he’ll probably make more money if he fights him there because Brook and Hearn might be able to put the fight in a small stadium. I mean, I don’t think Brook is a big enough name to fight Spence in a large stadium. Brook would need a popular guy like Amir Khan to pull in the fans for a fight to be in a large stadium in the UK. Brook can sellout the Sheffield Arena though, so that’ll probably be the destination for the fight.
I hate to say it but I see Brook vacating his IBF title straightaway once he gets done with his two voluntary defenses. I think the only way Brook fights Spence is if he’s dragged into the ring kicking and screaming. I do not see Brook taking the fight with Spence because it’s a horrible style match-up for Brook. He barely beat Porter, and had to clinch to keep from taking a pounding.
If you watch the Brook vs. Porter fight, what jumps out at you is how vulnerable Brook was. He literally could not stand and trade with Porter because he was getting worked over. So instead of fighting him, Brook went to the old punch and grab technique and used it all night long. He would throw a punch and then fall in and grab Porter before he could throw a shot. When Porter would come forward to try and throw a shot, Brook would grab him in a clinch. The referee just let Brook do this all night long and the fight was virtually unwatchable.
“I’m the number-one contender for Kell Brook. Kell Brook knows what time it is,” said Spence. “We got to get in the ring and fight. I did something Manny Pacquiao couldn’t do, nor Amir Khan. Everyone wanted to see what I could do against a proven fighter and I blew him out of the water.”
What’s interesting is how quiet Brook has been lately. I haven’t heard a peep from him today. I mean, Brook has to know that Spence is calling him out right now for his next fight, and yet he’s not saying a word about him. I wonder why? It’s telling that Brook isn’t saying anything about Spence because it tells me that he wants no part of mixing it up with the talent.
My prediction is that Brook will beat a couple of lesser names in his next two fights, and then vacate his IBF belt before he’s forced to defend it against Spence. I see Brook moving up to 154 and going after a soft target like WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith. Brook would then be the new WBO paper champion and could maybe hold onto that belt for a while against the WBO’s weak top 15 that they have ranked.