By Marcus Richardson: Former IBF welterweight champion Kell ‘Terminator’ Brook (37-2, 26 KOs) made quick work of #5 WBC Sergey Rabchenko (29-3, 22 KOs) in stopping him in the 2nd round on Saturday night to win the vacant WBC Silver junior middleweight title at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England.
Brook, 31, hurt Rabchenko with a huge right uppercut in the 2nd round. The shot staggered the 31-year-old Rabchenko, causing him to back up several feet on weak legs. Brook then narrowly missed with a big left uppercut and then nailed Rabchenko with a straight right hand to the head that put him down on the seat of his pants.
Rabchenko took a moment to climb off the canvas, but he was too hurt to be allowed to continue. The referee Steve Gray then halted the fight. The official time of the stoppage was at 1:27 of round 2.
In round 1, Brook was nailing Rabchenko with head-snapping jabs and right hands. Rabchenko looked slow on his feet, and he was unable to land much of anything in the round. It was a one-sided round. Rabchenko was there to be hit by everything Brook threw in the round. It was obvious that Rabchenko was not going to last long with the way that Brook was pasting him with shots to the head.
The right uppercut that Brook hurt Rabchenko with in the 2nd round was the same identical shot that he hit IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin with in their fight in September 2016. Unlike Rabchenko, Golovkin was able to take the shot from Brook. Golovkin turned the tables on Brook in the 3rd round and had him on the run after hitting him with a tremendous right hand to the head. Brook was no longer interested in fighting Golovkin after getting hit hard by him in the 3rd. Rabchenko didn’t have the chin to take Brook’s hard uppercut. He had to have known that Brook would throw the uppercut, because that’s his favorite punch in his arsenal, and he uses it all the time.
“The confidence is back and the feeling is good,” Brook said to Sky Sports after dispatching Rabchenko in 2 rounds. “I’m just going to get back in the gym now. I’ve got no injuries. I was timing my shots and it was just about when. I felt comfortable and relaxed. The weight was good for me,” Brook said.
It was a good win for Brook, and it puts him in position to challenge for a world title against unbeaten WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell ‘Iron Man’ Charlo (30-0, 15 KOs) in June. Charlo has already offered Brook the fight with him for his WBC 154lb. title. Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed that he’ll be fighting in June, but he’s not saying who he’ll be facing.
Hearn wants to match Brook up against Amir Khan later this year if he wins his April 21 fight against Phil Lo Greco at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. It’s a pretty sure bet that Khan will win that fight, but the two of them will still likely be facing other opposition in the summer before they face each other at the end of the year.
Overall, it was a satisfactory performance from Brook tonight against Rabchenko, but it wasn’t the type of test that you can go off of and say that he’ll be able to do the same thing against the better fighters in the division. Beating a limited guy like Rabchenko, who had been knocked out by Tony Harrison in the 9th round in July 2016, and then trying to do the same thing against WBC 154 lb. champion Jermell Charlo are two different things. If Brook can show the boxing world that he can beat Jermell, then you can say he’s fully back from his defeats to Errol Spence Jr. and Golovkin. Right now, it’s still debatable whether Brook belongs at 154.
”Brook has passed the test. Amir Khan has to pass his test, then that fight can happen,” Eddie Hearn said to Sky Sports. ”Brook will next be out in June. Let’s get busy. He is back to try and dominate the super welterweight division. That was a great performance. Everything was on the line tonight and he showed what we have always believed, that he is a world class fighter,” Hearn said.
What’s noticeable about Hearn’s comments is how he failed to mention WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo’s name. Usually when Hearn is excited about wanting to match one of his fighters against a world champion, he specifically names that fighter to get the British boxing public excited about the fight. The absence of Hearn failing to mention the name of the 27-year-old Charlo would seem to suggest that he’s not too keen on making that fight for Brook. The name that Hearn did mention was Khan, which of course is a no-brainer, because that’s the guy that he’s wanted to match up against Brook for many years now. But with Khan not being available to fight Brook in the summer, Hearn is going to have to match him against someone.
It’s not going to look good if Hearn puts Brook in with another fighter in the same class as Rabchenko, because he wasn’t one of the better fighters in the 154 lb. weight class. The top talents at junior middleweight are these fighters: Jermell Charlo, Jarrett Hurd, Erickson Lubin, Erislandy Lara, Brian Carlos Castano, Maciej Sulecki, Magomed Kurbonov, Julian Williams, Vanes Martirosyan, Austin Trout and Sadam Ali. Hearn mentioned wanting to match Brook against WBO junior middleweight champion Sadam Ali, but he’s expected to defend his title against Liam Smith on May 12th.
Hearn can’t have Brook sit around waiting for the outcome of the Ali vs. Smith fight. That would look weak on Hearn and Brook’s part if they wait on the winner of that fight, as Ali is not viewed as a true champion at 154. He’s viewed as a weak champion. The talented guys are Lara, Hurd and Charlo. Hearn needs to keep Brook busy for the summer. The best way to do that is to match him against Charlo.
“You thought you got rid of me,” Brook said. “I’m the terminator and I’ll be back. I’m here to stay. I love this sport. “