By Dan Ambrose: In has to be seen as an upside world, Kell Brook’s failure against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin last Saturday night could be rewarded with a big money fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez next May. Instead of Golovkin getting the fight against Canelo, it appears that the interest is in Brook getting the fight.
Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn is saying that HBO is interested in televising a fight between Brook and Canelo Alvarez. The fight would take place in early 2017 if Brook’s broken eight socket is healed by then. Hearn said this to IFL TV:
“Now you’ve got Peter Nelson of HBO, saying, ‘Canelo, would you be interested in the fight?’ That’s the kind of fights you’re going to see Kell in now. He’s done himself proud. He’s a warrior. Now we’re going to get together and plan what he’s going to do next.”
The big question is why would HBO be interested in televising a fight between a guy with an eye injury that was just stopped by Golovkin than having the fighter that won that fight face Canelo? It just seems like an upside down work where failure is good and winning goes unrewarded. Golovkin won the fight against Brook last Saturday by stopping him in the 5th round at the O2 Arena in London, England.
Brook doesn’t have the punching power or the size to beat Canelo. If Brook thought he had problems against the 170lb Golovkin last Saturday, then just wait until he gets inside the ring with an even heavier Canelo. Brook wouldn’t have the punching power to slow Canelo down. I guess that’s the whole point though. If Brook was a threat to beating Canelo, I don’t think he would be considered for the fight.
“There is already interest from HBO in a fight between Canelo Alvarez and Kell next May. That’s a fight Kell would absolutely love and has said so to me himself,” said Hearn to the Dailymail. “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.”
Earlier today, Canelo said that he plans on staying at 154lb for the time being. I guess this is one of the reasons. With Canelo still at 154, he can get fights against guys like Kell Brook, Amir Khan, Miguel Cotto, and whatever welterweights that he and Golden Boy wants to match against him. I don’t think for a second that Canelo is staying at 154 just so he can fight the Charlo brothers, Demetrius Andrade, Julian Williams and Erislandy Lara.
I think those guys will never get a chance to fight Canelo, because they would have a good chance of beating him. Having Canelo stay at 154 is a strategic move for him to get winnable fights against Brook, Khan [again], Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman, Jessie Vargas, Manny Pacquiao, Tim Bradley and maybe even Errol Spence Jr. one of these days. If Canelo moves up to 160, he would need to fight guys his own size like Golovkin, and I think he would lose to him badly.
“Why should I regret it? He was winning the fight,” said Hearn. “His stock has risen considerably. He might do it [drop down to 147] for Amir Khan. I think you’ll most likely see Kell at 154. He’s done himself proud. He’s a warrior. Now we’re going to get together and plan what he’s going to do next.”
I don’t quite understand how Brook’s stock would have risen with him losing to Golovkin. Brook didn’t do anything in that fight other than land a handful of pot shots, run and hold for five rounds before he was stopped.
When Hearn says that Brook “was winning the fight,” he’s talking about him leading on one of the judges’ scorecards. One judge had Brook up 39-37, and the other two had it scored 38-38. Two of the judges had Brook winning the 1st round. This is the round in which Brook staggered and badly hurt by Golovkin. It’s unknown why those two judges gave the 1st round to Brook. If they had scored it accurately by giving the round to Golovkin, then it would have made much more sense. Even Hearn acknowledged that Golovkin got off to a great start in round one. Why the judges didn’t see that is anyone’s guess.