Porter: I’ve faced more challenging fighters than Brook

By Boxing News - 08/07/2014 - Comments

Shawn Porter(Photo Courtesy of Showtime/Amanda Kwok) By Scott Gilfoid: IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (24-0-1, 15 KOs) has thought about his upcoming fight against unbeaten #1 IBF Kell Brook (32-0, 22 KO’s) a lot in the past month, and no matter how hard he tries, he just doesn’t see him being better than the guys he’s faced in the past.

Porter’s studied Brook’s fights in great detail and he doesn’t see the great talent that some of Brook’s loyal fans have been talking about. Porter rates Devon Alexander as being a better than Brook. He also rates some of his other opponents as better than him too, but he didn’t mention who those guys are.

I’m assuming he means Julio Diaz and Paulie Malignaggi.

Porter and Brook will be facing each other in a little over a week on August 16th at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

“I don’t know if he is the toughest opponent I’ve faced yet. His record (32-0) would say that he is, but if you take a look at the caliber of fighters that I’ve fought before him, I think the other guys are more challenging fighters, especially Devon Alexander, who has an awkward and complicated style,” Porter said.

So basically Porter is saying here that Brook’s fighting style is predictable, simple, and easy to figure out. It’s hard to argue with Brook being predictable and simple with the things he does. He fights in the same way every time.

You see the jab and then the old 1-2 combination. The left hook is always thrown and the right hand. Not a lot of variety from Brook. He also fights in a rigid manner like someone who has spent years lifting weights and has lost his flexibility.

Porter doesn’t mention Brook’s short arms, but that obviously one of his flaws, and it’s not something that he can do anything about. He’s kind of stuck with that unless he gets a late growth spurt. At 28, I think it’s safe to say that Brook isn’t going to be growing anymore. He’s the finished product in terms of size.

“Not to call Kell Brook plain, but he has a more up-and-down style that will be easier to deal with,” Porter said. “I’ve watched about six different fights on Brook, all the way back to as early as I could.”

Brook’s style of fighting is probably going to get him knocked out quickly on 8/16, because he doesn’t have the inside game to compete with Porter and with him upright, he’s going to get taken apart by the shorter Porter. When you have a short guy like Porter, you kind of have to get low to look him in the eye otherwise he’s going to take your head off with uppercuts and looping right hands.

Brook never changes his fighting style for anyone, and that obviously will be his undoing in this fight. He’ll go into fighting in his ramrod straight up style and will likely get taken apart by him unless he lands something big that changes the outcome.



Comments are closed.