By Scott Gilfoid: Errol Spence Jr. 21-0, 18 KOs) met up with IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) at their first press conference for their fight on May 27 at Bramall Lane, in Sheffield, England. Spence wasn’t in the mood to hold back his opinion of Brook, telling him via Sky Sports New HQ that he’s “living off two good rounds against Gennady Golovkin”. Spence is referring to Brook’s fight last September in which he was stopped in 5 rounds by Golovkin at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
Brook only had one good round, not two like Spence was saying. Brook fought well in round 2 of that fight. Brook landed some nice shots to the head of Golovkin in that round. But from round 3, it was a full scale retreat for Brook, as he ran from Golovkin and took punishment each time he would stop. But with that said, I thought Brook did a better job of actually fighting Golovkin than Daniel Jacobs did last Saturday. Jacobs was interested at all in fighting Golovkin, so we didn’t see the combination punching from him that we saw from Brook.
The high point of today’s press conference was when Brook and Spence stood for a face off. Spence was initially saying nothing. He was being professional and just going about the face off wordlessly. However, after Brook opened up his yap and started blabbering at him, Spence started trash talking him back. As I mentioned previously, it looked like Brook was nervous and possibly a little intimidated by Spence. I thought I saw fear in Brook’s eyes, which is OK for him to feel. There’s nothing wrong with being afraid of your opponent; just as long as Brook doesn’t let the fear get in the way of him throwing punches on May 27.
“He sounds very confident,” said Brook about Spence. “He’s American and they’ve given him a lot of hype. He has been looking very good in fights, but he’s bitten off more than he can chew when he steps in with me.”
Spence is highly thought of by many in the boxing world, including Floyd Mayweather Jr. He recognizes Spence’s talent. Mayweather knows a high caliber talent when he sees one. Spence’s recent knockout wins over Leonard Bundu and Chris Algieri were real eye openers to the boxing world. The victories showed that there’s a new kid in town at 147, and the other top welterweights are going to have live with him.
Brook is going to need to put in a lot more effort against Spence than he did against Golovkin if he wants to win the fight. First of all, Brook needs to stand his ground and trust his own power and chin if he wants to beat Spence. He can’t fight the same way he did against Golovkin if he’s to have any chance of winning. That means no giving ground to Spence. Brook needs to stand in the center of the ring and look to trade with Spence until the bitter end. Brook’s problem is he’s only had two tough opponents in his entire career in Golovkin and Shawn Porter. Brook didn’t really fight Porter. He held him for 12 rounds in one of the dullest fights I’ve ever seen. Just how Brook was able to get through the full 12 rounds of that fight without being disqualified for excessive holding, is anyone’s guess.
“He’s come to the final hurdle and that’s me,” said Brook about Spence. “I’m going to get so much energy from the fans, and I’m on point with the weight.”
If you ask me, Brook is making a mistake assuming that he’s going to get more energy fighting from the crowd at Bramall Lane. The crowd didn’t help Brook in his last fight against Golovkin at the O2 Arena in London. Before that fight, Brook was talking about how he would pick up energy from the fight. What we discovered was the energy that Brook got from the crowd, if any, only helped him in one round.
Brook fought above his head in round 2 of the fight. After that round, Golovkin completely took over the fight and basically pummeled Brook. The thing about picking up energy from the crowd is that we’re talking about adrenalin type energy. That’s something that only lasts for a matter of seconds. You can’t go through a fight with adrenalin. It’s not possible. That’s why after Brook had his brief bit of success in round 2 against Golovkin, it was all downhill for him the remainder of the fight. You’ve got to have the talent to carry you once your adrenalin runs out.