Roach: Errol Spence will knockout Kell Brook

By Boxing News - 03/29/2017 - Comments

Image: Roach: Errol Spence will knockout Kell Brook

By Scott Gilfoid: According to the great trainer Freddie Roach, IBF welterweight champion Kell “Special K” Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) is going to be knocked out by the young 27-year-old Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs) in two months in their fight on May 27. Roach likes the fight as a test for Spence, who he thinks should have already stepped by this point in his career.

Roach’ s views about Spence seem to run counter with trainer Abel Sanchez. He thinks that Spence needs another 2-3 fights, which would take pretty much the rest of 2017. Roach doesn’t believe in having Spence wait any longer. He thinks he’s long overdue for a step up fight, and he’s probably right.

“I think he’ll win that fight by knockout, but it’s a good test for him,” said Roach to K.O Artist about Errol Spence in his fight against Kell Brook. “He needs to step up.”

Spence is going to be stepping up in a difficult way by fighting in front of a crowd of 27,000 at Bramall Lane in Sheffield. That’s a lot of boxing fans that will be rooting against him. As long as Spence doesn’t crack under the pressure and something silly, he has a good opportunity to snatch the IBF 147lb. belt that Brook has in his possession. To be honest, Brook hasn’t done much with his IBF title. He’s really taken it very easy in the last 3 years of his career since his win over Shawn Porter in 2014.

The only fight that was an actual match for Brook during the last three years was his bout against middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in 2016. However, that was more of a business fight. Brook never stood any real chance of winning. It more of an example of fighter going after a payday than moving up to try and win world titles against a talent from the 160 pound division.

Roach says Spence wobbled Adrien Broner in the past during a sparring session. The sparring session between Spence and Broner has been talked about a great deal by boxing fans. It happened a while ago, and it really doesn’t mean much now because both fighters are different.

“Spence didn’t knock him out,” said Roach about him wobbling Adrien Broner during a sparring session. “He was on his feet. He didn’t know where he was at for a moment. He was a little wobbly. He didn’t go down. He wanted to finish the sparring session. He refused to get out of the ring, and nobody could use the ring for an hour because he was arguing with the coaches. He made it a bigger deal than it needed to be at the time. He wanted to maybe get him back. Broner was doing well. He just got caught. He hit him with a right hook, and that’s one of his best shots. It’s one of those things that happen in boxing,” said Roach.

Roach also talks about how his fighter Manny Pacquiao knocked down Amir Khan twice during sparring sessions in the past.

“When Manny Pacquiao was the Manny Pacquiao we all loved, he would dominate everybody,” said Roach about Pacquiao during his best years. Amir would do well for the first four rounds [in sparring]. He would probably win the first four rounds. After the first four rounds, Manny would take over. Manny was a little more mature and a little more smarter. The hand speed was the difference in the first 4 rounds. He knocked him down twice,” said Roach about Pacquiao knocking Khan down. He got up and finished every time,” said Roach about Khan getting up after being knocked down by Pacquiao.

When asked by Khan is chasing a fight with Pacquiao, Roach said, “Probably because of that reason, and maybe it’s someone he’s familiar with, and maybe he thinks he can continue these first 4 rounds and keep going his way. At this point maybe he can. Manny is probably not what he used to be, but his worth ethic is so great. But he doesn’t have the killer instinct anymore with religion being more important to him,” said Roach.