By Scott Gilfoid: IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) has had things pretty easy during his long 12-year pro career in the sport.
Brook is about to turn 30-years-old next month and the only name fighter he has on his resume is Shawn Porter. Errol Spence (20-0, 17 KOs) wants to give Brook a real name to add to his resume by facing him this year if he’s ready to step up a couple levels and take the fight rather than continuing with his trend of facing weaker contenders like Frankie Gavin, Jo Jo Dan and Kevin Bizier.
Spence’s promoter Lou Dibella thinks Brook won’t want to face Spence after the way that he took care of business last Saturday night in beating Chris Algieri in a fight that was televised nationally in the United States on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC.
“I don’t think Kell Brook wants any piece of him. Honestly,” said Dibella about his belief that Brook won’t want to fight Spence now that he’s seen what he can do against Algieri.
Brook and his promoter Eddie Hearn will need to make a decision whether they’ll keep the IBF 147lb title or get rid of it. Brook has two optional title defenses he can use before he will need to face Spence or face getting his IBF title stripped from him for failing to face his IBF mandatory challenger. Hearn is supposed to be getting Brook his first huge name in a stadium fight this summer. I’m not holding my breath in that happening, especially after the rumor surfaced this week that the name that Brook could be facing is 36-year-old Paulie Malignaggi.
If Brook vs. Malignaggi does take place, I can just imagine what that stadium is going to look like when the two of them get inside the ring. I bet you could hear a pin drop.
Spence’s promoter Dibella wants to keep him busy. He says that Spence will be attending the June 25 title fight between WBA welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman and Shawn Porter. There’s a possibility that Spence could face the winner of that fight as well. If that happens, then Brook can breathe easy because Spence will then face the winner of the Porter vs. Thurman fight, and likely beat them to win the WBA title.
Brook wouldn’t have to face Spence in a unification fight if he didn’t want to, and I wouldn’t expect him to. Why fight someone that could potentially beat you when you’ve got the IBF strap and can fight the likes of Bradley Skeete and Bizier.