By Allan Fox: IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn thinks that Brook would make easy work of Chris Algieri. In fact, Hearn thinks Brook would stop Algieri in three rounds. Hearn appears to have randomly picked out Algieri’s name out of frustration because the guy that he wants to face Brook, Amir Khan, beat Algieri by a narrow 12 round unanimous decision last Friday night in New York.
Since Hearn can’t get Khan to agree to fight Brook, he chose to take a shot at Algieri. Whether Brook would be able to stop a mobile fighter as big and as talented as Algieri is unclear. We do know that Brook had all kinds of problems against the last quality opponent he faced in Shawn Porter last year.
Brook won a narrow 12 round majority decision in a fight that was a very tough one for Brook. Algieri has more size and skills than Porter, and it could be a really tough fight for Brook if he were to give him a shot at his belt. It would definitely be a step up from Brook’s last two opponents Frankie Gavin and Jo Jo Dan.
“I think the Algieri fight would be over in three rounds,” Hearn said at the post-fight press conference on Saturday. “Amir Khan is going to run out of people to fight. I hope that maybe you guys will pressure Amir Khan.”
Hearn and Brook can’t seem to realize that Khan doesn’t want to fight them. They should be looking in another direction instead of constantly mentioning his name and asking the media to help them pressure the fighter. Brook has guys he’s not fighting in Keith Thurman and Marcos Maidana. Those guys aren’t wearing out Brook’s name complaining about not getting a fight against him. Hearn and Brook need to realize the boxing world is a lot bigger than just Khan. There are a lot of fighters out there starting with Thurman and Maidana.
“August 29th is the date we’re targeting,” Hearn said. “Rios is still my preferred choice. He’s the perfect choice name-wise, style-wise and entertainment-wise. Bob Arum and Top Rank want the fight. There’s tons of fighters out there for Kell. I love the fight between [Tim] Bradley and [Jessie] Vargas. I’d love the winner of that fight against Kell for two belts. They’d love us to go to America to fight Keith Thurman, which is a great fight. We definitely need a big name at the end of August.”
Rios is another weak choice for Brook. That’s too much of a safe fight for the British fighter. Rios is an improvement over Gavin and Jo Jo Dan, but not by much. There are other guys that he could be fighting that are better than Rios. Hearn may not want to admit it, but he appears to be protecting Brook from the better fighters in the division. He should be putting Brook back in with Porter in a rematch, and he definitely should be putting him in with Thurman and/or Maidana.
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