By Scott Gilfoid: In an utterly pathetic mismatch, undefeated Kell Brook (29-0, 19 KO’s) destroyed a badly overmatched Hector Saldivia (41-3, 32 KO’s) in the third round to earn a mandatory position in their IBF welterweight eliminator bout at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Brook hit Saldivia with a jab in the third and Saldivia keeled over and hit the canvas. Although he got back to his feet the fight was still halted because Saldivia was too hurt.

Before anyone gets excited about the win you have to remember that Saldivia, who was slow as molasses, had had already been stopped in the 1st round two years ago by Said Ouali and had beaten only obscure opposition since then. The real question is why on earth did the International Boxing Federation rank Saldivia #3 in the division when it was clear years ago that he didn’t belong anywhere near the top 15 or even the top 50 in my view.

Then fight was nearly over in the 1st round when Brook dropped Saldivia with a right hand. Saldivia got back to his feet and hung on the ropes and circled the round to survive, but it showed that he didn’t belong out there because it wasn’t a big punch that Brook hit him with. The problem was that Saldivia was so god awful so slow that he couldn’t react to Brook’s shots nor could he land his own because wasn’t trowing anything.

Saldivia, already sporting a bruised right eye, did get some hard shots off at the end of the 2nd round when he finally let loose with his punches. Brook looked uncomfortable during that brief stretch and I would have liked to have seen what Saldivia would have done had there been more time left in the round. Instead of starting fast in the 3rd round to continue what he had done in the last seconds of the 2nd, Saldivia just stood there doing nothing in the 3rd round until Brook hit him with a jab and then shoved him hard to the canvas. Saldivia couldn’t even take the jab, and was too hurt to continue.

All in all, terrible performance from Saldivia and nothing special from Brook. As for Brook, he landed a fair amount of elbows and one hard shot to the midsection after bending Saldivia over at the waist. I thought Brook should have lost points for the elbows but the referee let him get away with it without taking points away.

Brook would have been in trouble had he been fighting someone that could actually fight instead of this guy.

Brook will now be fighting the winner of tonight’s fight between IBF welterweight champion Randall Bailey and Devon Alexander. I see both of those guys giving Brook a rude awakening when that fight happens. Saldivia was merely the same kind of fighter that Brook has been fighting his entire career, so Brook is going to be in major shock when he fights Bailey or Alexander. We’re talking major shocks. It’ll be good to see how badly Brook flounders when that time comes.