By Scott Gilfoid: IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook says he’s going to diet and takeoff weight to see if it’s feasible for him to move back down to 147 to defend against his IBF mandatory challenger Errol Spence Jr. Brook says he could move up to 154 if he can’t make weight. However, it doesn’t appear that Brook’s heart is really into the Spence fight. Brook might not only lose to Spence, but it could be a bad knockout loss for him. Once Brook loses to Spence by a knockout, then he can forget about big fights against the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan, Danny Garcia or Keith Thurman. To get the top fights in boxing, you must achieve. It looks like Brook is taking the backdoor route to the big fights by him losing to Gennady Golovkin and then possibly avoiding the Spence fight. It’s sad when you think about it.
Brook says he would make 147 for the big fights against Amir Khan, Manny Pacquiao, Danny Garcia or Keith Thurman. But when it comes to making a defense of his IBF title against Spence, Brook doesn’t seem nearly as thrilled at that idea. When you’re a champion like Brook, you can’t pick and choose ALL of your opponents.
The International Boxing Federation has a job to do to make sure that champions like Brook are always fighting the best. Since Brook won the IBF title in 2014, we haven’t see Brook fighting the best at 147. We’ve seen Brook defend his IBF title against Jo Jo Dan, Frankie Gavin and Kevin Bizier. Brook’s fight against Gennady Golovkin took place at middleweight.
“I’m just going to see if we move to 154, or if we fight Spence. I’ll probably be able to let you know in the next two or three weeks where I think we will be going,” said Brook o skysports.com.
If Brook fights at 154, he might have the same issues with him bellyaching about having to get down to the weight limit. It’s hard for many top fighters to get down to weight in boxing. That’s just the way it is. The sooner that Brook realizes this the better it will be for him. Yeah, Brook could move up to 160 or 168 and never have problems making weight again, but he doesn’t have the talent or the punching power to compete with the best in that division.
By fighting at 147 all these years, Brook has had an advantage over his smaller and lighter opponents. I think Brook will be making a grave error if he moves up to 154 and thinks he’s going to become a world champion. At best, I think Brook could become a belt holder like Liam Smith. In other words, a paper champion, and not someone that is viewed by boxing fans as being a really talented champion. The real issue that Brook has at 154 is the fact those guys are basically all middleweights, who choose to melt down in weight in order to fight at 154. I don’t see Brook doing well against those fighters. We’re talking about guys like Jermall Charlo, Jermell Charlo, Erislandy Lara, Julian Williams and Demetrius Andrade. Those guys are as heavy as Gennady Golovkin, and yet they prefer to fight in the 154lb division. Brook will be snmaller than all of them, and he won’t have their power.
Brook needs to stay at 147 for the remainder of his career if he’s smart. He’s not one of those types of talents that can move up to 154 and be an immediate force in that division. If Brook does move up in weight, I see his promoter Eddie Hearn pointing him towards the arguably weakest of the current champions in the division like Jack Culcay or Jermell Charlo. Hearn can probably setup one of those title fights for Brook within a short period of time. However, Brook wouldn’t be seen as the best in the division. If he fought someone like Jermall Charlo, we’d likely see how limited Brook is.
“I’m going to get back in the gym now, I’m going to start dieting. I’m going to be listening to my body and see if I can get down to a certain weight, so many weeks before the fight when we’re making welterweight,” said Brook.