Brook-Senchenko: A tough fight for Kell

By Boxing News - 10/23/2013 - Comments

brook444By Irv Lett: Many boxing fans have written off former WBA welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko (34-1, 23 KO’s) for his fight this Saturday night against unbeaten UK fighter Kell Brook (30-0, 20 KO’s) at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. The 27-year-old Brook is already seen as the winner, and people are talking about who he’ll fight after that. I think this is wrong and it’s possible that we could see Brook going down in this fight.

The warning signs for a possible Brook loss are already out there if you look at how Brook fought in his recent 8th round TKO win over Carson Jones last July. While Brook looked good while on offense, he didn’t look nearly as good when getting hit back. In fact, he looked very average when Jones would throw a few token shots at him every now and then.

This was a Jones that looked like he was unable to throw punches, because he was just standing there taking punishment without throwing anything back at Jones. He obviously was the perfect opponent for Brook, because he didn’t have to worry about getting hit back. Had Jones thrown a lot of punches like he had in their first fight in July of last year, we might have seen a much different reality.

Brook has power, but he’s very stiff with his upper body and he fights a lot like someone that is over-muscled. Those type of fighters don’t do well when facing athletic fighters and ones that throw a lot of hard punches back at them. Brook has fought a lot of weak opposition that has enabled him not to have to worry about anything coming back at him. When you’re best opponents of your career is Matthew Hatton and Carson Jones, then that’s a very good sign that you’ve been matched carefully because those are not the type of fighters that you should be fighting when your 9 years along in your career and one fight away from a world title shot.

Senchenko, 36, takes a lot of heat for his stoppage loss to Paulie Malignaggi last year. He definitely did look bad in that fight, but he’s a lot better than what he showed. If Brook believes that Senchenko is going to be an easy mark just because a slick fighter like Malignaggi beat him then he may be in for a rude awakening because Senchenko has the power and the technique to give Brook a boxing lesson and stop him.

Brook is a decent fighter but he’s clearly not on the level of the top guys at 147. Let’s no kid ourselves about that. Brook is a step or two below the top guys, and it’s doubtful that he’ll be able to ever get to the upper echelon of the division. Senchenko is in the same boat. He’s a good fighter but he’s definitely a level or two below the two guys. For this reason I believe the Senchenko-Brook fight is really a 50-50 affair rather than a bout that Brook will definitely win.

Brook may win a decision if it goes to the cards, because he is the home fighter in this bout, but I don’t think it’s possible for him to stop Senchenko. If there’s anyone that will be stopped in this fight it’s going to be Brook because Senchenko is the better skilled fighter with the better power. He’s more defensively sound and he’s much more the fluid fighter.



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