By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn was fast to congratulate Sadam Ali (26-1, 14 KOs) for winning the WBO junior middleweight title last Saturday night with a 12 round unanimous decision win over champion Miguel Cotto (41-6, 33 KOs). Hearn says his fighter Kell Brook (36-2, 25 KOs) will be back inside the ring in March for his first fight at 154. After that, Hearn says he’ll be coming for Ali’s WBO junior middleweight title.
”Congrats on a great win @realworldkidali – @SpecialKBrook back early March, then he is coming for the 154 👑 @GoldenBoyBoxing @HBOboxing 🇺🇸🇬🇧👍🏼”
Oh my, it didn’t take long for Hearn to come out of the woodwork and star talking about Brook fighting Ali. I wonder what #1 WBO 154lb contender Liam Smith will have to say about that.
Hearn is going to likely make a big play to get the 31-year-old Brook a quick title shot against Sadam Ali after he makes his tune-up fight in March.
Brook has lost his last 2 fights to Errol Spence Jr. and Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin. Both loses were stoppage losses are a result of eye injuries hat Brook suffered to separate eyes. His next fight will be crucial in identifying whether his eye problems will be an ongoing thing for him or not. If Brook is unable to make it through his warm-up fight in March without suffering another eye injury, then you have to suspect that this could be the end of his career.
Sadam Ali is the perfect vulnerable 154 lb. champion for Brook to go after to pick up a winnable title in his new weight class. Ali just recently moved up in weigh to 154 from the 147 lb. division, and he showed very little in the way of punching power in his win over Cotto. In the three occasions that Ali hurt Cotto in their fight, it was more of a case of the Puerto Rican star lowering his head and walking into the shots from Sadam. Brook isn’t nearly as careless.
If Brook is going to get hit with something by Ali, he’s going to have his head in the upright position, expecting incoming shots rather than being taken by surprise. That doesn’t mean that Brook will necessarily beat Ali. It’s still going to be a tough fight, but you’d have to favor Brook over Ali based on his punching power and his past success at the welterweight level. Ali didn’t do much at welterweight before being given a title shot against Cotto for his WBO 154lb. title by his promoters at Golden Boy.
Ali will likely need to make a title defense against #1 WBO Liam Smith before he faces Kell Brook later in the year. Golden Boy can offer Liam Smith a step aside payment so he’ll stand aside while Ali faces Brook. That would be an option if Ali wants to sidestep Smith for the time being. As long as Smith is willing to step aside for the right amount of money, it would enable Ali to fight Brook. That’s a bigger fight for Ali than facing Smith.