By Scott Gilfoid: Undefeated welterweight contender Kell Brook (28-0, 18 KO’s) has a big opportunity to get himself a title shot in the near future if he can just get past Argentina’s Hector David Saldivia (41-2, 32 KO’s) next month in their IBF welterweight final eliminator bout at the Motorpoint Arena, Yorkshire, UK. Brook, 26, can lock himself into a shot against the winner of the October 20th fight between Randall Bailey and Devon Alexander. Whether Brook is actually ready for that fight is a whole different matter altogether.

Just because Brook wants to fight for the IBF title doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s ready to do. Looking at how badly he struggled in winning a controversial 12 round majority decision over Carson Jones last July, I’d say that Brook has no business fighting the Bailey-Alexander winner, not if he knows what’s good for him. Brook is another one of those fighters that has been matched way too carefully for way too many years and he’s now 26, and lacking in experience in a big way.

Brook moved up against a higher caliber fighter in his bout with Carson Jones last July 7th, and Jones showed pretty clearly that Brook isn’t ready to move forward against better opposition. If anything, Brook should be fighting Jones again to prove that he’s the better fighter because he didn’t prove that with his controversial decision.

The Saldivia fight is more of a step back than a step forward for Brook, even though Saldivia is ranked #3 by the International Boxing Federation and Brook #2. Having seen Saldivia fight on several occasions, I think a better ranking for him would be #30. He’s nothing special at all, and looks like a step down from some or Brook’s past fights against guys like Matthew Hatton, Luis Galarza, Lovemore N’dou and Rafal Jackiewicz. It’s not Brook’s fault that the IBF got the crazy idea to rank Saldivia as highly as they did, but it will be Brook’s fault if he actually thinks it means that he’s in the same class as Alexander and Bailey just because he can beat a guy like Saldivia.

He’s not in their class, believe me. Brook will take a terrible beating when he fights Bailey and Alexander, and it won’t matter if Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn is able to get the fight to take place at the Motorpoint Arena in the UK. Brook will take a beating from Alexander or Bailey no matter where they stage this fight.

What I’m hoping is that the Brook-Saldivia fight ends in a draw or a loss for Brook, because it will allow him to take a step back, realize he’s got a ton of flaws to work on, and then go back to the drawing board to start facing some quality contenders that he can learn from, starting with a rematch against Carson Jones. You’re supposed to move forward when you’ve been shown that you couldn’t pass a test. We saw Brook fail to pass the Carson Jones test, yet here is trying to move forward as if he passed that test. It’s not smart and it’s end badly for Brook for skipping forward as if he actually beat Jones.