By Scott Gilfoid: As I mentioned previously, #5 IBF Frankie Gavin (22-1, 13 KOs) is on the verge of getting a fight against IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (34-0, 23 KOs) on May 30th at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Gavin will be the replacement for Amir Khan, who chose not to take the fight against the 28-year-old Brook due to him not being a big enough name in the United States for the fight to be worthwhile to him.
With no other real options for Brook to fight in terms of recognizable fighters that would interest British boxing fans, Hearn is leaning in the direction of putting Brook in with Gavin for the May 30th date.
This means that Hearn will need to pull Gavin off of his scheduled May 9th card against South African Chris van Heerden. That wasn’t going to be a big fight anyway for Gavin, and he’ll make a lot more money fighting for the IBF world title against Brook, although it won’t be the same kind of cash that Khan would have received if he had said yes to Hearn’s offer to fight Brook. Provided that Brook makes it out of the fight against Gavin in one piece, Hearn says he’s looking to put together a fight between Brook and American Brandon Rios for July or August. That’s a fight that will help increase Brook’s popularity in the U.S, as Rios is a fairly popular fighter in the United States.
“I’m not stupid. I’m not delusional. I’m going to have to perform out of my skin,” Gavin said via Skysports.com. “But I’ve definitely got it in me to do it. I’m very confident Kell can be beaten and hopefully it’s someone with my skills who will do it. Nothing is signed or done yet but I know Eddie’s spoken to Kell and Kell’s up for it and I’m up for it. So we’re going to sit down and have another chat in the next two days and hopefully get it done.”
I think it’s a fight that Hearn kind of needs to make right now. We saw Gavin arguably get beaten by Bradley Skeete last November in a fight in which a lot of boxing fans thought Skeete got royally robbed. Further, Gavin was beaten soundly by Leonard Bundu last year. Those fights showed pretty clearly that Hearn needs to cash out as fast as possible with Gavin because there’s too much of a risk of him taking another loss even if Hearn tries to play it safe with Gavin by matching him against domestic level opposition. I mean, if Gavin can’t even beat a guy like Skeete without controversy then what in the heck can Hearn do with Gavin?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyfN7RwGs3I
For Hearn to maximize the cash he can make with Gavin the smart thing to do is to put him in with Brook right away rather than taking a risk of extending the fight out into the future. I wouldn’t wait either. Who knows when Gavin will get beaten again? If I was Gavin’s promoter, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with matching him against anyone, even 2nd and 3rd tier guys, because he’s too shaky.
“I think I’ve got the skills to upset Brook and take him out of his rhythm,” Gavin said. “It’s easier said than done but I’m going to be 100 per cent ready, physically and mentally, and if I get that world title shot I’ll be ready.”
I hate to say it but I don’t think Gavin has a chance against Brook. This is just a flat out mismatch. It’s a good showcase fight for Brook, but that’s about all it is. I think a lot of British fans will be interested in the fight though. It’s too bad that Hearn can’t wait a year or two to put it together once Gavin has built more of a name for himself to make it a bigger fight, but as I already said, I think it’s too much of a risk for Hearn to wait any longer before putting this fight together. Once Gavin gets whipped again by another fringe contender, I think it’ll pretty much end any hopes of Hearn being able to put together a Brook vs. Gavin fight in the future.
I don’t know what Hearn can do with Gavin long term. I think he’s going to need to cut his losses at some point unless he’s comfortable with just having him as a guy that he uses for his better fighters to sharpen their claws on. In other words, Gavin can be a good trial horse.
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