By Scott Gilfoid: Derrick James, the trainer for unbeaten #1 IBF Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs), expects for his fighter to be getting a title shot against IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) by May or June of this year, and he doesn’t mind that the fight might take place in the UK.
James is confident that Spence will do the job on Brook and take his title from him. James saw Brook’s recent 5th round knockout loss to IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin on September 10 last year, and he wasn’t overly impressed with what he saw from Brook.
James isn’t saying what didn’t impress him, but it might have been all the running that Brook did and the fact that he basically quit in round 5 when he stopped punching after getting hit with a body shot from Golovkin. Brook kind of gave up in the fight after Golovkin sunk a right hand to the midsection of Brook in the 5th. Brook’s trainer had to throw in the towel after he saw that he had stopped throwing punches.
The fight went from being competitive to a last stand type of affair in the matter of seconds in round 5. Spence isn’t the type that would just stop throwing punches. He’s the type that would be swinging for the fences until the last moment of the fight. Of course, Spence is a 2012 Olympian with loads of talent.
Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn says that the decision on the Spence fight will be made this Friday, but it’s “70-80 per cent” likely that the fight will take place, even though he keeps saying he wants him to move up to 154. Brook seems to have his head on straight, because he’s got to know that it’s no picnic at 154 either.
If you think Spence is bad just imagine what it’ll be like for Brook if he gets in the ring with Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade, Julian Williams and Erislandy Lara. Those guys are all very, very talented fighters with size that equals Golovkin and tons of power. Jermall Charlo is especially talented.
Unless Hearn wants to try steering Brook around all of those fighters, he’s not going to be able to do much in the 154lb division. I don’t know how Hearn could steer Brook around those fighters, because they hold titles and/or high rankings. For Brook to get a crack at Jermall Charlo, he’d likely need to fight it out with Williams or Andrade. I wish him a lot of luck if he has to tangle with either of those guys.
“That’s good to hear (about the chance of a Spence-Brook fight) but he hasn’t really got a choice,” James said to skysports.com. “We’re expecting it to happen in the next three or four months and fighting in the UK is not a problem at all.”
So there it is. James expects the Brook vs. Spence fight to take place in the next three or four months. I think it might take place even sooner than that. Brook needs to get back inside the ring, because he’s already been out of action since last September. Brook can’t afford to sit back licking his wounds for too much longer without him getting rusty.
Brook suffered a broken right eye socket in the Golovkin fight. Brook had the injury repaired and he reportedly is 100 percent now, but you never know with injuries. Without Brook being able to try the eye out by fighting someone non-threatening, he’s going to have to find out the hard way. That’s the thing about being a world champion.
You’ve got to take on the best every now and then if you want to hold onto your title. Brook burned up a fight by moving up to middleweight to fight Golovkin. If he had stayed at welterweight, he likely would have been able to take a nice voluntary challenger from the bottom of the IBF’s rankings. Of course, if Brook had stayed in the welterweight division, he likely wouldn’t have suffered the eye injury. Brook moved up in weight for the payday, and he gained some popularity from the loss. Before that, Brook had been kind a hidden champion, because he’d been fighting guys like Kevin Bizier, Jo Jo Dan and Frankie Gavin instead of the talented contenders.
“Kell Brook wanted to fight Khan and be champion, but if he wants to stay champion, he’s got to fight Errol,” said James.
James is right. Brook wanted to fight Amir Khan, and not much was said about the fact that if he did take that fight, he wouldn’t have been able to keep his IBF title. Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn kept saying that Brook is the IBF champion and Khan is just a challenger.
What Hearn wasn’t saying is that if Brook and Khan did fight, the IBF title would be gone, because the IBF would need to strip Brook for failing to fight his IBF ordered mandatory challenger Spence. Brook would only get to keep his IBF title by facing Spence. That’s the way it is. If you want to stay a champion, you’ve got to pay attention to who the sanctioning bodies are ordering you to fight.
If you just try and fight whoever you want, then they strip you. Brook obviously likes the prestige that goes along with being a world champion. But for Brook to remain in the class of being a champion, he’s going to need to beat Spence. It’s as simple as that.
I know that Hearn wants Brook to give up his IBF title, because he feels that it depletes him having to make the 147lb limit for his fights. But Hearn wasn’t making a big fuss about Brook being depleted when he was defending his IBF title against Kevin Bizier, Jo Jo Dan and Frankie Gavin. Why all of a sudden is Hearn all broken up about the trouble it is for Brook to make 147 now that Spence is his mandatory challenger? Is it just a coincidence or is there some fear there?