By Jaime Ortega: The welterweight division is packed with talent and undefeated champions. One of them is IBF champion of the world, Kell Brook, an undefeated boxer who many believe will conquer the welterweight division. Others believe that Brook is another English hype job created by his promoter.
Brook has been under a lot pressure from his fans to fight legit opponents. The criticism originated after his fight with Shawn Porter, he started to select easy fights to boost his undefeated record and build up his legacy. His fights with Jo Jo Dan, Frankie Gavin and Kevin Bizier earned him a bad reputation among his fan base for picking weak one-dimensional boxers – unknown Europeans!
Eddie Hearn became his official promoter after Brook split in 2001 from Frank Warren. Hearn’s has toyed Brook fans, setting easy fights for Brook to make him outwardly look like the new Floyd Mayweather Jr. Hearn’s and De La Hoya have mimic Mayweather Promotions by means of cherry picking their opponents to build up a strong fan base for their boxing stars.
The experiment has become a disaster. Canelo Alvarez and Brook have ducked undefeated opponents and experienced challengers in the welterweight division. Canelo who isn’t a real welterweight has taken smaller opponents over real middleweights because Golden Boy fears their cash cow will perish, if he loses again. Danny Garcia and Al-Haymon seem to have also taken that path, and avoid crossing paths with other undefeated boxers fearing a loss could ultimately taint Danny’s legacy. Everyone wants to be Floyd, and that might have repercussions for us boxing fans who want to see the best fights available. I am not a big fan of prize fighters, I like boxers who like to fight everyone.
Brook has 36 fights and unlike Keith Thurman he is not battle tested. One of Hearn’s most notorious cowardly moves involved Brook fighting Diego La Hoya Chaves, the British star after signing the contract to fight in Nov 2015, decided to pull out from the clash and claimed injury. Unlike Thurman, who also got injured before the Porter clash, Hearn never rescheduled the fight against the Argentinian boxer.
Those who know boxing understand that Chaves is a better boxer than Porter, and one who gives serious problems to any welterweight. The biggest name in Keith Thurman’s career is not Porter, but Diego Chaves. Thurman set the blueprint against Chaves and knocked him out. Timothy Bradley advised Brook on an interview to be careful, “That is a tough fight for Brook, he don’t realize that… Chaves is underrated man! He can box, he has power in box hands and can fight on the inside…he is a great fighter.”
Probably the same reason why Errol Spence Jr. has avoided the Argentinian dagger who is looking for opponents and instead selected a lower risk opponent with old Leonard Bundu. Errol showed that his chin is suspect after he got rocked by Emmanuel Lartey in the 7th round and wobbled holding the African boxer who hurt him. If he fought Chaves he would pay his defensive mistakes— never mind Brook or Thurman. Danny Garcia is also scared of Chaves, he wants none of that. Al-Haymon knows that if Danny fought Chaves, he might set back the career of the Philly star ending his cash cow bid. Angel Garcia has been reluctant to speak about a possible clash with Chaves.
Brook has not faced anyone special outside of Porter, his resume is weak and it about time to start selecting tougher opponents to solidify his record with bigger names. Brook looks crisp, he has the best Jab in the welterweight division. He also times his punches very well and likes to move his head. However, all the European boxers he has challenged have predictive mechanical movement, and evidently look slow on the pedal. Brook could have faced Bundu a few years back when the Italian was younger and undefeated, but never took the risk — Bundu hits hard!
The question is how would Thurman pair up with Brook? What will we expect in the highly possible unification matchup? Expect a few things! Brook has an elite jab, 69 inch reach and throws accurate counters. Thurman has the same reach, 69 inches and throws better hooks. Reach advantage won’t be an issue for any of these two boxers. Thurman lands a lot more combinations, whereas brook lands more basic 1-2 shots. Brook’s chin is questionable and untested for his lack of opponent selection; on the other hand, Keith’s chin has been battle tested by harder punchers and better boxers. Brook is a Cobra and Thurman a strong mongoose.
Thurman has greater boxing versatility while Brook likes to stay on his ground and engage when his opponents get in close range. Both have similar power, but Thurman has knocked out better opponents. They both are natural welterweights. Both fighters rely on explosive booms to counter, but Keith is more aggressive. Both focus most of their shots to the face, but Thurman targets the body better. Defensive wise, Thurman edges Brook; However, Brook showed against Porter that his defense can be solid. The lack of quality opponents have made Brook earn less ring experience against certain boxing styles that might expose his defensive errors.
Having the same reach, Thurman would pose a lot of problems with his uppercuts. Brook will be bombarded with haymakers, and his body might be his greatest weakness facing Thurman. Thurman might also allow Brook to chase him around to counter him. Brook will not feel comfortable with Thurman once he feels his power, and will respect his space to try to counter Thurman with basic jab combinations from the outside. Brook throws his uppercut after he gets in range and after throwing his jab, Thurman throws his uppercuts with much more accuracy and power without using combinations. Thurman has never lost the uppercut war.
All in all, Thurman should win the fight. Brook’s best quality is his sniper jab and Thurman’s best quality is his ring intelligence and mutability (he can adapt). Brook’s defense will be subjected to vicious counters from Thurman, and many of the punches will land. Thurman will systematically break Brook down slowly but steadily waiting for the knockout punch. Brook is going to pay his lack of experience with tougher opponents. The best European boxer was Bundu, who beat Frankie Gavin. Brook avoided fighting Bundu for many years, and decided to take on Gavin instead. Thurman set the blueprint beating undefeated Bundu. Konstantin Pomonarev beat Brad Solomon recently, but Hearn’s also avoided the undefeated Russian, who avoided Errol.
Brook is not only cheating on his fans, but he is also cheating on himself because the lack of talented opposition will take a toll when he finally fights the likes of Thurman, Garcia and even Jessie Vargas. Vargas will not be an easy tasks for Brook. Brook will have to deal with a power puncher with a solid chin who almost knocked out Timothy Bradley in the final round. Vargas has the experience, Brook lacks.
A lot of casuals are hyping Brook, who hasn’t fought anyone significantly tough outside Porter. If Hearn’s accepts the terms and conditions of Vargas, I wouldn’t be surprised if Vargas wins the fight. I would recommend Brook to fight Saddam Ali, or even Errol Spence to prepare himself for Danny Garcia and Thurman. Like Emanuel Lartey, Brook will wobble Errol and finish him off. He should also beat Ali who is a skilled boxer, Brook’s reach and power are greater. Either way, let’s hope brook steps up his game, but as for today he loses to Thurman via knockout maybe.