By William Mackay: Undefeated welterweight contender Kell Brook (25-0, 17 KO’s) fights for the first time in the United States on December 17th against a fighter by the name of Luis Galarza (17-2, 13 KO’s) on the undercard of the Super Six finals bout between Carl Froch and Andre Ward at the Boardwalk Hall in Newark, New Jersey.

This is yet another 2nd tier opponent for Brook, who has been slow in moving up to 1st tier opposition for some reason. Ranked #2 by the WBO, Brook’s promoter believes he will get a title fight for Brook in 2012. If so, it would mean that Brook would be moving up almost exclusive 2nd and 3rd tier opposition to fight a 1st tier fighter. I think it’s a stupid thing to do unless you’re just looking for a payday.

If that’s what the goal is by all means matching Brook against lower level fighters was a smart thing to do because he’s got an impressive looking unbeaten record. But if you were grooming Brook to actually win the title, then I think he’s been done no favors by matching him against weak opposition. The only champion that I can see giving Brook the time a day is IBF welterweight champion Andre Berto, but that guy appears to be a lot better than Brook.

It’s not even comparable. Berto is faster, stronger, a better fighter defensively and moves better. I think that’s a bad match-up for Brook. The only champion I can see Brook beating in the welterweight division is the WBA champion Vyacheslav Senchenko, who is clearly a vulnerable champion but someone who probably won’t even consider defending his title against Brook. Kell’s promoter probably won’t be able to make that fight happen because Brook is only ranked #7 by the WBA and there are softer targets out there for Senchenko to fight than Brook.

Galarza, 29, is obviously being brought in for Brook to look good against in his first fight in the U.S. It’s too bad that Brook’s promoter isn’t matching him tougher because he’s keeping him in the slow lane by matching him weak. Sure, Brook will beat Galarza without any problems but when you put Brook in with Berto, it’s going to be too much of a jump up in talent for Brook to handle and he’ll get blasted out in no time.