By Raj Parmar: Newly crowned IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KO’s) has earned some praise from pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather (46-0, 26 KO’s) following his upset defeat over ex-champion Shawn Porter (24-1-1, 15 KO’s).
“The guy Kell Brook came to my boxing gym I think 5 days before the fight and watched me spar a little bit,” Mayweather said to fighthype.com, “Cool guy. A true gentleman. He earned it the hard way.”
Mayweather holds the WBC and WBA titles at welterweight, while Floyd’s rival Manny Pacquiao holds the WBO title. This puts Brook in elite category as he is the only major champion at welterweight besides those two modern legends.
Brook was able to hold off a charging Porter in their fight a couple weeks ago and used movement, timing and sharp jabs to throw off Porter’s attacks. The result was a somewhat ugly affair as Shawn would rush into Brook with ineffective offense, with Brook fighting at safe distance away from the aggressive Porter. Floyd acknowledged that although the fight was not the most exciting to watch, it was a testament to Brook’s ability for him to stay on his game for 12 rounds against an energetic fighter like Porter.
“You know, the fight was very, very hard to watch,” Floyd stated, “(But) after that many fights, whether it’s against tomato cans or against top opposition, you’re going to have some type of experience to be able to go 12 rounds, and you have to be able to fight just a little bit if you beat everybody that they put in front of you. So congratulations to him and I wish him nothing but the best.”
It would be interesting to see if a potential showdown between Brook and Mayweather could materialize as it would provide Floyd with the opportunity to further unify the welterweight division. Mayweather is scheduled to defend his titles against slugger Marcos Maidana in a couple of weeks while Brook is rumored to defend his strap against fellow countryman Amir Khan in England of next year.
Mayweather for his part is focused on his fight with Maidana and surprisingly said that he is not totally sure who he will be fighting next year. This comes as a bit of a surprise as a couple of months ago Floyd stated he has a “big surprise” in store for the boxing world for May 2015 once he takes care of business with Maidana.
“Well, I already know who I’m fighting September 13th,” Floyd explained, “As of right now, I don’t know who I’m fighting in May and I don’t know who I’m fighting next September, but you know I got to take just one fight at a time and my focus is Maidana.”
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