Hearn: Brook needs to bully Spence

By Boxing News - 05/24/2017 - Comments

Image: Hearn: Brook needs to bully Spence

By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn wants his fighter Kell Brook to take the fight to Errol Spence Jr. and bully him around the ring on Saturday night at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, England. Hearn believes the best way for Brook to beat Spence is to rough him up, and take the fight to him.

Hearn doesn’t say what precisely he wants Brook to do as far as roughing up Spence. Hopefully, Hearn isn’t thinking about Brook hitting Spence with low blows, rabbit punches or head-butting him for 12 rounds. The fight is going to be a home fight for Brook, and it remains to be seen how much bullying he’ll get away with if he chooses to foul Spence for 12 rounds.

We saw Brook bending the rules in his fight with Shawn Porter by clinching excessively without getting penalized for his rule breaking. That was a fight took place in the U.S back in 2014. It might as well have been a fight in the UK, because Brook got away with a massive amount of holding that he used as a way to keep Porter from throwing punches. It was obviously part of the game plan to neutralize Porter’s offense.

Brook-Spence will be televised on Showtime Championship Boxing this Saturday night in the U.S. The start time is at 2:15 p.m. PT/5:15 p.m. ET. The fight will also be televised on Sky Box Office PPV in the UK.

Where to see the Brook vs. Spence fight: Bramall Lane in Sheffield, England.

Hearn rates Brook as the No.1 fighter in the welterweight division. However, Hearn still wanted Brook to vacate his IBF 147 pound title to “swerve” Spence. If Hearn really believes that Brook is the best fighter in the 147 pound division, then it doesn’t make sense for Hearn to have asked Brook to vacate his IBF title to avoid Spence.

“I really, really believe he’s going to do a job on Errol Spence on Saturday night,” said Hearn to secondsout.com. “I sat down with Kell after the Triple G fight and I said, ‘Listen, if you don’t’ fight [Amir] Khan, then you need to move up to 154 pounds. You’re stronger there. More importantly, if you stay at welterweight and don’t fight Khan, then you’re going to need to fight Errol Spence. So swerve that.’ That’s what I said, and he said, ‘What happens to my belt?’ The only reason he took the Golovkin fight was because he maintained his belt. He wouldn’t have vacated his belt to fight Golovkin. ‘I said you’d have to vacate the belt if you moved to 154,’ and he said, ‘No chance.’ He said, ‘I will beat him and knock him out.’ He said, ‘Give me that fight at Bramall Lane.’ He said, ‘I’m unbeatable there.’”

It doesn’t quite make sense what Hearn is saying about his opinion that Brook will do a “job on Errol Spence.” If Hearn thinks he thinks Brook will do a job on Spence, then he sure as heck shouldn’t be telling him to vacate his IBF title so he can “swerve him.” That just tells me that Hearn is afraid of what could happen to Brook in this fight. Hearn has a good reason to be worried. There is a very real possibility that Brook is going to take a beating in this fight and lose his IBF title in the process.

Spence is an upgrade to Shawn Porter, who Brook had a devil of a time beating in 2014. Brook really didn’t beat Porter. Brook turned into a 12 round stall. For the boxing fans who don’t know what a stall is, it’s when another fighter grabs his opponents and stalls them to keep them from throwing punches. Most of the time, a fighter will do that for a limited period because the referees usually step in take points away. But in the case of the Brook-Porter fight, brook held for the entire 12 rounds, and the referee working the fight let it happen.

”You’ve got Errol Spence at this stage. He’s bashed up [Chris] Algieri. No one did that. He bashed up [Leonard] Bundu. No one did that. He actually hasn’t fought anyone either,”“He never fought an elite fighter. Now he is. I’ve always believe Kell Brook is the No.1 welterweight in the world,” said Hearn.

Spence hasn’t faced the best at 147. Hearn has got that right, but Brook is pretty much in the same boat. Brook only has the one fight against Shawn Porter to show for his entire career at 147. I’m not bringing GGG into this, because that fight took place at middleweight and it has nothing to do with what Brook has done at welterweight. Brook only has Porter to show for his entire boxing career in the welterweight division. That’s not too impressive. Brook has been a pro for 13 years. Spence has been a pro for 5 years.

Brook has been fighting as a pro for 8 more years than Spence, and all he has to show for that extra time is that one fight against Porter. Hearn needs to look at his own fighter Brook at look at how his boxing career has been a disappointment for the most part. If Brook is really the No.1 welterweight in the world, then he’s been completely underutilized by his British promoters and he let that happen. Brook should have spoken up and insisted that his promoters start putting him in with the best welterweights as far back as 2008.

Hearn isn’t worried about Brook making the 147 pound weigh-in limit this Friday. He sees Brook making the weight and being strong for the fight. Brook, 31, has put a great deal of work in getting his weight down in training camp. Brook must be given credit for losing all the weight that he packed on in bulking up for the Gennady Golovkin fight on September 10 last year. Brook eased his foot off the pedal after losing to Golovkin by him gaining a lot of weight. It’s good that Brook was able to take the weight. Hearn seems to believe that Brook won’t be weight drained on Saturday night, and I tend to believe him. Brook didn’t look thin or drawn around his jowls. That tells me that he took the weight off the right way. You’ve got to give Brook’s nutritionist a great deal of credit as well. I imagine he might be in demand after the way he was able to help Brook. The guy seems to know what he’s doing.

“He will 100% make the weight,” said Hearn. ”He couldn’t show that against Gennady Golovkin. He showed that he’s immensely talented. But now he has the chance to show that he’s the best welterweight in the world. I don’t see weight being an issue in this fight. I think he needs to dominate Errol Spence. I think he needs to control the pace of the fight. I think he needs to bully Errol Spence, and take the fight to him. You won’t see Kell Brook running in this fight. You’ll see him fighting fire with fire in the ring,” said Hearn.

Brook needs to TRY to dominate Spence. Hearn says Brook isn’t going to run from Spence. We’ll see about that. I remember hearing similar things before Brook’s fights against Porter and Golovkin, and we running in both of those fights from him. Honestly, I don’t think Brook has the mental make-up for him to stand in the pocket and fight Spence or anyone with punching power and talent. From what I can see, when Brook is met with stiff resistance and pressure, his first impulse is to scram. When Brook doesn’t flee the battle field, he tends to hold a great deal.

I’m really HOPING that Brook doesn’t do that against Spence on Saturday night because he’ll turn the fight into an ugly spectable like he did in the Golovkin and Porter fights. Those were not exciting fights. If you watch both of those matches with the sound off to tune-out the boxing fans’ cheering, you’ll see little more than holding and running from Brook in fights that were very boring to watch. Brook’s boxing fans think the Porter and Golovkin fights were exciting. Believe me, they were not exciting. Brook was running from Golovkin, and holding Porter.

”You don’t want Errol to get in his rhythm. He’s fighting away from home. He’s going to get booed out of town,” said Hearn. ”It’s going to be really horrible and hostile for him. You want to unsettle him, don’t let him get in his rhythm,” said Hearn.

Not letting Spence get in his rhythm won’t be easy. I don’t know how Brook can keep Spence from getting in his rhythm without running and holding. What else can Brook do to keep Spence from getting in his rhythm? If Brook fights him, he’s going to get bludgeoned and stopped in short order on Saturday night. If he runs and holds, then it’s going to do nothing but stall the fight with neither guy doing anything. Of course, Brook could try and limit the punch output of Spence only a tiny handful of punches each round with his spoiling. Will that bring a smile to Hearn’s face if Brook chooses to hold and move for 12 rounds?

If Hearn’s overall desire is to see his fighter win at all costs, then I guess he’ll be OK with Brook holding and running. Hearn was praising the heck out of Brook for the holding he did in the Porter fight. I still remember the praise that Hearn was giving Brook for the nonstop holding he did in that fight. Hearn thought it was smart boxing from Brook. I imagine he’ll feel the same way if Brook does the same thing against Spence on Saturday night. I’m not sure the 30,000 fans at Bramall Lane will feel the same way because they’re paying their hard-earned money to see what they hope will be an exciting fight between Brook and Spence. It won’t be exciting if Brook stalls the fight out with his spoiling tactics.

”Regarding the Triple G fight, he went 5 rounds. It wasn’t a beat down,” said Hearn about Brook’s recent fight with Golovkin. ”He took some good shots. He was never hurt other than the first 15 seconds of the fight. After that, it wasn’t a 12 round war. I know he got an injury, but it wasn’t a fight that taxed him. It wasn’t a fight where he felt like it took a lot out of him. Outside of the injury, he didn’t feel like it was a taxing fight. We’ll see, won’t we,” said Hearn.

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