By Scott Gilfoid: Despite Kell Brook’s future being uncertain following a broken eye socket in his loss to IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin last Saturday night, Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn is targeting Saul Canelo Alvarez, Amir Khan and Miguel Cotto for his next fight.
It seems that Hearn is a little ambitious now that Brook has finally tasted the big money in his loss to Golovkin, and he’s hoping that he can get another money fight once he comes back from his injury. Hearn is saying that HBO is interested in a fight between Brook and Canelo in May.
That would be interesting for boxing fans if only to see how Canelo would do against a common opponent as Golovkin. I don’t know if a fight of that type would be sending the right message to the boxing world. If Canelo is seen as a Super Bowl type opponent, then what does it say about the sport when a fighter that was just beaten gets to fight in such a prestigious Bowl type of fight.
I have no problems with Brook fighting Canelo, but I’d like to see him actually earn the fight by WINNING rather than backing his way into the match by LOSING to Golovkin. Does that make sense? How about Brook proving himself by fighting one of the Charlo brothers, Demetrius Andrade, Erislandy Lara or Julian “J-Rock” Williams. If Brook beats one of those guys, then he gets the fight against Canelo or Cotto. But if Brook gets beaten by one of those talents, then he goes to the back of the line for a Canelo or Cotto fight. As for Brook vs. Khan fight, that match might as well happen with Brook coming off a loss to Golovkin. Khan is no better off with him coming off a knockout loss to Canelo last May.
“There is already interest from HBO in a fight between Canelo Alvarez and Kell next May,” said Hearn to the Dailymail. “Britain wants to see with Amir Khan should also be possible. Then there’s Miguel Cotto, which would be a huge fight. They are the three main ones we are looking at for his comeback. We want to go straight into a big one. There is no denying now that Kell’s stock has risen. We have gone from looking for the big fights and sometimes begging for them, to Kell jumping to the top of every list for mega-fights here and in the US.”
I don’t agree that Brook’s stock has risen from his loss to Golovkin. I think Brook failed and would have been knocked out early in the fight if not for his running and holding. Brook showed zero punching power at the 160lb level, and I saw enough of him to have a good idea that he won’t do well in the 154lb division when he moves down to that weight class.
I hate to say it, but the power just isn’t there for Brook. There are guys that are cut out for the 154lb weight class like Liam Smith, and then there are fighters that are not. Kell Brook is NOT cut out for the junior middleweight division. I think he should walk up and smell the coffee and realize that he needs to get back down to 147 to resume defending his IBF welterweight title, because that’s the only division I see him having any real success.
To be honest, I think Brook’s time as a champion at 147 is up. If Brook goes back down to welterweight, he’s going to need to fight the talented Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs) REAL SOON, and I do not see Brook winning that fight. I think Brook would be forced to go in another direction after a loss to Spence towards a fight against the likes of WBO champion Jessie Vargas or WBC champion Danny Garcia if he could get those fights.
I think Vargas would fight him, but no way on earth do I see Garcia agreeing to a match against Brook. The only way I think Brook gets a fight against Danny Garcia is if he becomes his #1 WBC mandatory challenger, because I don’t see Garcia as being much of a risk taker nowadays.
“This will only make him stronger,” said Hearn about Brook. “As it stands, he needs to heal. We will find out this week if he will have surgery or whether it is better to recovery naturally.”