By Gav Duthie: When I think about what the next year holds for Kell Brook an entire series of questions flood me. The news he is fighting Diego Chaves on October 24 in Sheffield is no surprise. Brooks future is not just important for the man himself but also has wider connotations for British boxing, Pay-per-view in the UK as well as Eddie Hearns’ Matchroom promotions as a major player.
After the retirement of Carl Froch, Kell Brook is the new face of Matchroom. With some of Hearns stable seeking advice from Al Haymon is there really enough confidence that Hearn can deliver a top flight career on his own in the UK.
Current status for Kell Brook
Brook’s return after injury promised so much. Because he had been out so long I accepted that his first defence would be his mandatory challenger Jo Jo Dan. I among others suggested he would be judge on his next fight. Frankie Gavin was disappointing but again as it was only two months after his last fight I accepted it. This was the big one and so far:
– They tried to get Amir Khan but he refused
– Brandon Rios was likely for September but he pulled out
– Most recent negotiations were said to be with Tim Bradley, Diego Chaves and Ruslan Provodnikov
– As expected he is fighting Diego Chaves
I never saw any chance of the Bradley fight coming off as the WBO rarely agree to unification bouts. Chaves is good but having lost to Rios, Thurman and a controversial draw with Bradley beating him would be nothing special. Provodnikov is a decent name in the UK as fans love that type of fighter but again he is generally a 140lb fighter and not elite level. If this is what we have to look forward to in the UK then Brook needs to ask questions about whether he needs to travel to be successful. If he beats Chaves it will still be an amazing year for Brook with 3 title defences after a career threatening injury but I would have loved to have seen him fight a top level opponent.
Carl Froch
One could argue that Hearn has already been successful in guiding Froch to a top flight career. In some instances though I feel luck was in their favour. The Super 6 tournament for example negated the normal effort required to make big fights happen with contests against Andre Dirrell, Mikel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Glen Johnson and Andre Ward delivered with less difficulty by virtue of the tournament. It is more difficult with many of the his names in the welterweight division being American and signed with big name promoters. His defining fight against George Groves was a phenomenon in how much they hated each other as well as the first fight controversy creating a storm. In contrast I can’t see the worlds top welterweights flooding to the Sheffield Motorpoint Arena to fight Kell Brook.
Diego Chaves
I’m not underestimating Chaves. He is a tough, solid pressure fighter and he has a chance to win. He is easily Brook’s second best opponent after Porter but the point for me is that the bigger names Khan, Mayweather, Rios and Bradley didn’t fancy it. The IBF is due an eliminator with proposed fights with (Khan-Bradley) (Gavin-Bradley) (Alexander-Chaves) falling through. There is nobody ranked 1 and 2 so with Chaves being #4 (Sadam Ali #3) it is hard to argue with this as an opponent. At the same time it isn’t hugely exciting.
America
With the exception of Froch most of our fighters have needed America to make it big. Lennox Lewis for example, I even consider Amir Khan to be almost an American fighter these days. I had hoped this would not be the case for ‘The Special One’. I’m sure Eddie will give it a good go getting big fights back here and he will do the same with Anthony Joshua but I imagine in the end that both fighters will end up linking up with Al Haymon and fighting on PBC within the next couple of years. Make no mistake Haymon might call himself an adviser but he is a promoter and in reality a competitor for Matchroom.
The future
When Mayweather retires Hearn will once again go all out to make the Brook-Khan fight. If he can pull this off and Brook wins he may be able to keep Kell in house but I’m not confident. If Brook needs to go stateside so be it and I will enjoy watching his career develop its just that as a British fight fan I would love to see our best boxers fighting big names at home.
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