By Scott Gilfoid: The negotiations are still bogged down for the Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 23 KOs) vs. Kell Brook (35-0, 24 KOs) fight tentatively scheduled for September 12th. The negotiations are still hung-up on the rematch clause that the 29-year-old Brook wants in the contract in case he gets beaten by Rios.
It’s unclear how long the two promotional teams at Matchroom Sport and Top Rank will hang in there to work on the fight before they give up and go their separate ways. Rios’ promoters at Top Rank are in a good position to get what they want because Brook badly needs a name to fight for his September fight because he’s been facing embarrassing opposition ever since his controversial win over Shawn Porter last year.
If Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn pulls out of the negotiations, then his options for Brook will likely be dismal. It’s not that Hearn couldn’t get a quality fighter to face Brook. I mean, there’s always Keith Thurman, Adrien Broner, Shawn Porter, Errol Spence or Marcos Maidana to match against Brook, but Hearn hasn’t seemed eager to want to match Brook against those fighters. I don’t know why. If Brook isn’t good enough to beat those fighters, then he really shouldn’t be holding down the IBF title, should he?
“I checked in on the status of the Brook-Rios talks. No deal yet. Sides still hung up on rematch clause language in event Rios wins. #boxing,” Dan Rafael said on his Twitter.
Top Rank can always move Rios out of there and use him for a fight against Manny Pacquiao next year, Ruslan Provodnikov, Diego Chavez, Jessie Vargas or Tim Bradley. Now that Vargas has been stripped of his WBA light welterweight title by the World Boxing Association due to him not paying a $40,000 fee to fight Bradley, Vargas and Rios would be an excellent fight. Rios might have to do a little waiting for Vargas to recover from his grueling fight against Bradley, but I don’t see why the fight can’t get made between these two fighters if Rios decides to bail on the Brook negotiations.
It’s going to be interesting to see who Hearn decides to match Brook against if the negotiations with Rios and Top Rank wind up dying. Given that Brook has been facing some awfully poor opposition during his 11-year pro career, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him fight someone down by the bottom of the rankings like Chris Van Heerden, Charlie Navarro, Alfonso Gomez or Gianluca Branco.
One person I could see Hearn picking out for Brook is Robert Guerrero. He’s coming off of a controversial win, he doesn’t have a ton of power, and he’s well-known. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Hearn picks out Guerrero for Brook, because he’s someone that I could see Hearn picking for him. The guys that Brook has mostly fought during his career are light hitters, and Guerrero is definitely that. He was a good puncher when he fought at super featherweight, but he didn’t carry his power up with him when he moved up to welterweight back in 2012.
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