By Scott Gilfoid: I hate to drizzle on Kell Brook’s loyal fans but I wasn’t at all impressed what I saw of him last night in his 12 round decision win over the hand-picked Matthew Hattn (42-6-2, 16 KO’s). First of all, what is Brook still doing fighting guys like Hatton after almost nine years as pro.

I can excuse 20-year-old Saul Alvarez for fighting Hatton last year because of his youth, but what’s Brook’s excuse? Take the training wheels off already. But I really wasn’t impressed with what I saw of Brooks’ skills and also with his stamina or lack thereof. Brook started wearing beginning in the 8th round and looked weak until the end of the fight.

Hatton was the one making the fight in the last four rounds and was by far the stronger fighter. The only problem Hatton had is he has no offensive skills to speak of and was limited to throwing wild left hooks and right hands, and some of them he actually landed. I don’t like the way Brook looked when he was getting hit with those shots, because against fighters with talent, power and speed, Brook would have been getting lit up like a Christmas tree. He doesn’t punch hard enough, his reach is too short and his hand speed average.

Brook won the fight by the scores of 118-109, 119-108 and 119-107. I would have expected a more lopsided score had Hatton fought good welterweights like Victor Ortiz, Andre Berto, Mike Jones, Devon Alexander, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. I don’t see Brook as being in their class. He’s outside looking in as far as I’m concerned. I mean, he’s young enough to wait out Mayweather and Pacquiao, but he won’t be able to wait out Ortiz, Berto, Alexander and Jones. If those guys take belts in different divisions, all I can see Brook winning is one of those interim jobs or if the sanctioning bodies make one of those guys a Super World champion, then I guess Brook move in and take the regular title as long as he doesn’t face any too good like Alexander, Brto, Jones or Ortiz.

Overall, I wasn’t at all impressed with Brook. I see him as an eight round fighter and that’s not good. The reason it’s not good is it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on him to nearly sweep the first eight rounds against whoever he’s fighting because when he starts fading in the 8th round, he’ll give away the last four rounds of the fight.

You’re not going to beat too many fighters by losing the last four rounds. Brook can beat a fringe contender like Hatton but beating someone that’s actually good is a whole different story. That’s why I find it silly when boxing fans talk about Brook being a potential superstar. He’s still fighting guys like Hatton and he’s been a pro as long as Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. What does that tell you? The training wheels have been on extra for this one and why is that? I saw so many flaws in Brooks’ performance that I can’t even picture in my mind Brook beating one of the top five guys in the welterweight division.

Like I said, he can wait around until Pacquiao and Mayweather retire and maybe pick up a strap that way, but if one of the top guys like Ortiz, Berto, Jones and Alexander fight him for that strap, you can forget about Brook holding on to it. Those guys are A LOT better than Brook in my estimation. The power and speed difference between them and Brook is huge. I think Brook is a good gate keeper type fighter and there’s nothing wrong with that. The welterweight division needs a good gatekeeper like Brook to keep out the strays that the sanctioning bodies might give an inflated ranking to. We’ve seen that too many times and we saw it last night.