By Scott Gilfoid: IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) says he’s now thinking that he’ll remain in the 147lb division rather than moving up to 154 to campaign in the junior middleweight division. According to Brook, his weight is under control, and believes he can get back down to 147. He’s hoping that by staying at 147, he can face the likes of Amir Khan, Manny Pacquiao or Danny Garcia. The fights against Pacquiao and Garcia could be unification matches.
Gilfoid isn’t surprised at all that Brook isn’t moving up to the 154lb division, because there are too many beasts in that division that would likely wreck him in the same way that IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) did in their fight on September 10 two months ago at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
That was the fight in which Brook suffered a broken right eye socket. Brook has since had eye surgery to fix the problem, and he’s expected to return to the ring in the spring of 2017. Brook won’t come back until his eye is fully healed from the surgery he had on it.
Bad news for Brook is the 60-day medical extension he receive recently to put off his mandatory defense against #1 contender Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs) runs out on February 24. If Brook isn’t ready to fight Spence at that time, he’ll be stripped of his International Boxing Federation strap. That’s obviously not a good thing, but at least Brook would be avoiding an almost certain knockout loss to the talented American.
Brook said this to ESPN.com about his ideas on staying in the welterweight division:
“Once you have become world champion, you really need special fights to keep you motivated in training,” Brook said. “A world title unification fight would do that. My weight has settled down so I could still make welterweight. I’ve got Spence on the horizon and there’s the likes of [Danny] Garcia and Amir Khan as well, but I don’t know yet. The eye socket is healing well but I still have some stitches in my mouth.”
Well, let me be a fortune teller for Brook. I do NOT see him fighting Errol Spence Jr. in 2017, 2018 or 2019. I think it’s safe to say that fight is not going to be happening soon. I do think Brook will show interest in facing Spence in the future, but only after he establishes himself as the best fighter in the 147lb division. Once it’s academic that Spence is the best, then I see Brook trying hard to get a fight agaist him, but by that point in time, I no longer see Brook as a relevant fighter. I’d be very surprised if Brook doesn’t vacate his IBF welterweight title to avoid a fight against Spence.
The IBF isn’t going to let Brook take a unification fight next. They’re not going to just let a talent like Spence be put on ignore while Brook scratches up this or that fight. He already dodged other welterweights byt choosing to move up to the middleweight division to take on Golovkin. That didn’t work out too well for Brook other than the nice payday he received.
Brook will now need to defend his IBF 147lb title or risk getting stripped of his strap. Brook can’t just skip past guys like Spence. If this were the NFL, Brook wouldn’t be able to avoid other teams on schedule without forfeiting those fights. I think it’s the same thing with title defense against Spence. If he doesn’t take that fight, then I see him getting stripped of his IBF strap, as well he should.
I never thought it was a good idea for Brook to move up to the junior middleweight division. Those guys are basically middleweights. The top fighters at 154 – Demetrius Andrade, Erislandy Lara, Jermall Charlo, Julian Williams and Jermell Charlo – are all the same weight as Golovkin. They’re taller than Golovkin as well, and have pretty good punching power. Brook would be just as much out of his class against those guys as he would against Golovkin. Brook might be heavy enough to fight in the 154lb division, but he’s not as big or as powerful as the best fighters in the division. I think Brook could potentially beat some of the 154lb fighters like Liam Smith, but I don’t think he could hang against the good fighters in the division. I don’t think Liam Smith is a good fighter. However, even a limited guy like Smith would be a huge headache for Brook.
I won’t be surprised at all if Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn makes a deal to allow him to steer around Errol Spence Jr. instead of facing him. I doubt that Hearn wants to match Brook against a talented guy like Spence in his next fight. I see Hearn steering Brook around Spence in the same way we’re seeing WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew steered around his own #1 WBC mandatory challenger in Mairis Briedis. Bellew was supposed to fight Briedis in his first defense of his title. Instead, he fights #14 WBC fringe contender BJ Flores.
Bellew is supposed to now face Breidis. Instead, there’s talk of Bellew fighting heavyweight David Haye next. I wouldn’t be surprised if Brieidis waits until 2018 before he gets his title shot against Bellew. I can see the same thing happening with Spence not getting a title shot against Brook. I hope that Brook does face Spence next, because it’s going to look funny if he keeps facing other guys instead of him. Brook had no problems with defending his IBF title against the likes of Kevin Bizier, Frankie Gavin and Jo Jo Dan. But all of a sudden when a talented contender emerges in Spence, we see Brook going in a different direction. Brook got a free ride in losing to middleweight Golovkin, because there were a couple of built in excuses that made the loss not quite as bad. There was the eye injury that Brook suffered, and then Golovkin being a middleweight. The excuses won’t be there if Brook loses to Spence.