By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn says he’s going to make a play to have the Kell Brook (32-0, 22 KO’s) vs. IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (24-0-1, 15 KO’s) fight staged in Sheffield in the UK on July 12th. Hearn promotes Brook, and he feels that the fight will do well there by attracting a large crowd of Brook fans. Hearn doesn’t believe that a Brook-Porter fight will do well in the U.S, because Porter doesn’t bring in large crowds yet at this point in his career.
“I have already spoken to Richard Schaefer this week, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, who look after Porter, and I have told him that I want to bring this fight to the UK,” Hearn said. “My offer would be to stage the fight in Sheffield, possibly on July 12…Ultimately, they would like the fight in America…but I think it makes more sense for it to be in the UK.”
Whether the fight is staged in the UK or the U.S depends on number of things. First off, it wouldn’t do well for Golden Boy Promotions to have an American card of fighters staged in the UK, because it would more difficult to attract U.S media attention for a fight that is staged outside of the UK. What Schaefer doesn’t want is ratings that are down to the fight being staged away from the U.S. A fight between Brook and Porter is already one that would likely draw little interest in the U.S with casual boxing fans due to Brook being an unknown, so the ratings are already going to likely be less than spectacular to begin with.
Unlike Amir Khan, Brook hasn’t faced quality opposition during his 10 year pro career, as he’s been matched against 2nd and 3rd tier opposition consistently. The other thing that Schaefer will likely be less than excited about is the potential that a Brook-Porter fight could end in controversy with Brook possibly winning a controversial decision like the one he won against Carson Jones in their first fight in Sheffield.
It puts a lot of pressure on Porter to have to go into Sheffield thinking that he needs a knockout just to make sure that he gets the victory. There’s also the worry of quick stoppages that we’ve seen recently in the UK in a number of fights or with the 10 counts looking like 9 counts or rounds ending early. There’s a number of things that Schaefer might be worried about in thinking about letting Porter fight Brook in the UK, and it might not be worth it for Schaefer to take those risks. After all, if Brook is able to pull off an upset and beat Porter, then rematch will no doubt be staged in the UK, and Porter would find himself the visiting fighter having to overcome the same obstacles as he did in the first fight. At the end of the day, it might be better off for the Porter-Brook fight to be staged in the U.S where those kinds of things can be avoided. And if not in the U.S, then definitely a neutral country like Canada.
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