British boxing talk – Looking into Brook/Spence

By Boxing News - 03/22/2017 - Comments

Image: British boxing talk - Looking into Brook/Spence

By Adam McCoy: This is my first article on here for a few years, I have been following this site for many years. The UK is in double figures for current world champions and are producing some excellent young up and coming fighters. What I intend to do is do one or two write ups each week focusing on what’s going on in the world of British boxing and talking upcoming fights, stories and any covering social media gossip.

I will start by looking into the fight between Kell Brook (36-1 25KO) and American Errol Spence (21-0 18KO). Now what has had me by surprise is how many people actually favor the challenger Spence and how people seem to be writing Brook off so easy. This is a very, very close fight. I have been a huge fan of Kell since his early days and I’ll be honest I only started to pay attention to Spence after his KO victory over Chris Algieri, but have since watched every bit of footage I could find. I’ve also heard the rumors that Spence clowned Floyd Mayweather and flattened Adrien Broner in sparring, but this is as real as it gets. I haven’t seen anything in Spence to suggest after 21 fights he can travel to Brook’s hometown and be the favorite. Sorry guys but I just don’t see it, you will learn from future articles that I am not biased to UK fighters but the sheer number of people favoring Spence has me wondering what the big deal is.

Admittedly Kell has only recently started upping his opposition but let me remind you after he dethroned then unbeaten Shawn Porter he was attacked and suffered a stab wound before he ever got around to defending his IBF title. So when Brooks first two opponents where Jo Jo Dan and Frankie Gavin, I didn’t see that as a huge problem for a man who nearly had his career cut short. Where I think the problem lies with Kell and many other Brits is Eddie Hearn. Hearn tried repeatedly to talk Brook out of this fight towards a safer but more rewarding bout. In my opinion, Eddie is as bad as they come for cherry picking fighters to grow his money makers in the stable; so huge respect to Brook for standing firm and forcing him to make the fight. When Golovkin wanted a fight in the UK and Eubank Jr and Saunders where nowhere to be seen Kell Brook begged for it and that shows the sort of person he is. Kell will fight absolutely anyone and despite his ‘soft’ resume. I think Brook is the best welterweight on the planet right now.

Kell Brook didn’t need to fight GGG. He knew he needed an opponent and when Billy Joe Saunders and Chris Eubank Jr. didn’t want it, Brook stepped up two divisions and give the fans a show. Unfortunately, the fight was halted in the 5th when Brooks right eye socket had shattered completely to the point the towel was thrown in by his corner. Not once did GGG have Brook on the canvas and I believe Brook showed tremendous heart by going toe to toe with a man who was being dodged like the plague and his performance certainly didn’t do him any harm. Kell’s main strengths are his punching power his excellent jab and his timing and I think he’s a nightmare opponent for anyone. For Spence to beat Brook I think he needs to use his range and try and make this as frustrating as he can. Spence travels to the UK with a lot of hype, people say he’s the future and he’s unbeatable. I don’t believe for one second after 21 fights with Chris Algieri and Leonard Bundu his best opposition that he is ready to travel overseas and fight Kell Brook in his hometown in front of 32,000 people that want him to lose. He talks a good talk and certainly has the backing from many fans and pundits but I think this fight has come to soon.

I see Kell holding back and taking his time for a round or so to see exactly how Spence plans to bring it. But sooner or later Brook will land clean and I see that being the end for Spence. He might outbox Brook for a few rounds even but Brooks timing and counter punching is like no other welterweight. He will counter Spence and he will land clean and Brook carries explosive power. If the eye holds out and he makes the weight ok after coming down from 160 I fancy a Brook stoppage all day long. Spence may be the future but I think Brook is massively underrated and will want to bounce back from the defeat to Golovkin in style.

I’m not going to spend as long on the following topic but I just wanted to wish Anthony Crolla the best of luck in his rematch with Jorge Linares this Saturday. Crolla is one of the nicest guys in boxing and has a hero’s story to tell taking a paving slab to the head while trying to fend off burglars then coming back to win a world title. That is a man who had a dream and didn’t let anything stop him from achieving that. The whole UK will be behind Crolla this Saturday hoping for another miracle. Linares is a solid fighter and has shown that time and time again. However, Crolla will need to be on his A-game and then some to dethrone Linares. I see another Linares decision unfortunately but who knows. Thanks for the read and I hope it was something different to what your used to seeing. Please look out for my next article where I’ll be looking at the Anthony Joshua/Wladimir Klitschko fight and why I have AJ as the underdog and also taking a closer look into Billy Joe Saunders offer to fight Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in Kazakhstan.