By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn says he wants to match IBF welterweight champion Kell “Special K” Brook (35-0, 24 KOs) against #5 IBF Kevin Bizier (25-2, 17 KOs) on February 20th in Sheffield unless Bizier’s promoter wants to come up with the money to stage the fight in the United States or Canada.
The International Boxing Federation recently ordered Brook to defend his title against the 31-year-old Bizier. Brook had previously been on course to defend his IBF title against #4 IBF Diego Chaves, but an injury for Brook caused that fight to be postponed and then finally cancelled due to the IBF ordering the Brook vs. Bizier fight.
Chaves would have been a much better fight, but still not much better. It’s just kind of sad that Brook still has not fought anyone good during his career other than Shawn Porter, who Brook clinched constantly to win a controversial decision over in 2014.
“We’re looking at possible February 20th for Brook,” Hearn said to IFL TV. “It’s not an ideal fight for us. If we don’t fight Bizier then we lost the belt. I want to bring Bizier to Sheffield on February 20. We need to clear that fight for the summer fight [against Amir Khan]. I’ve sent the financials to team Khan. Once we clear Bizier, we have the opportunity to make any fight we want. February 20th for Brook at Sheffield, or if they want to come up with the money, we’ll come to America. Brook vs. Bizier is not pay-per-view. If we choose to fight somebody else, we’ll lose the title. I’d rather get it done in February so we can have the summer fight,” Hearn said.
Bizier recently stopped Fredrick Lawson in the 10th round last November. Other than that win, Bizier’s biggest victory of his career was against 41-year-old Nate Campbell in 2013. Campbell is a former lightweight, who was outsized by the younger, bigger and stronger Bizier in that fight. Bizier has two losses to Jo Jo Dan in the past.
The IBF’s rankings are kind of senseless when you think about it. How is Bizier ranked #5 with the IBF, when he was recently beaten twice by Jo Jo Dan, and he’s never actually beaten anyone that you call a good fighter. Lawson is a decent fighter, but he suffered a jaw injury in that fight early on. If not for that, I think he would have beaten Bizier.
Bizier can punch a little when he’s got an opponent that is standing in front of him making it easy for him to get his shots off. If Brook chooses to stand and trade with Bizier, then this could be a good fight. However, if Brook elects to hold 10+ a round, then we’ll be in for an awful fight. I think the holding from Brook might come about if he can’t handle Bizier’s punching power, and if he can’t score a knockout.
Brook needs to get past Bizier so that he can fight Amir Khan in the summer in the UK in a big pay-per-view fight. Hearn thinks it’s going to be a big fight, but I’m not so sure. Khan hasn’t been fighting in the UK lately, and he’s not exactly been fighting top notch opposition for the last three years. If Khan had continued to face quality opposition after his losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia, then I could see the Brook vs. Khan being a big one. But those losses for Khan effected the match-making that was done for him, as he’s been matched against lower level opponents for the past three years.
There has been absolutely no risky fights for Khan. Brook only has that one fight against Shawn Porter in terms of a quality opponent, and that was just a gawd awful performance from Brook with the nonstop clinching he was doing in every round.
It was pretty clear that the clinching was a planned strategy by Brook to keep from being worked over on the inside by Porter. The referee didn’t do his job by docking points from Brook for the nonstop holding. Porter and his trainer Kenny Porter should have created more of a fuss about the holding that Brook was doing because it was excessive to the point where it kept Porter from being able to work on the inside.
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