By Gerardo Granados: This Saturday night at Sheffield, Yorkshire, UK, the unbeaten hungry lion Errol Spence will challenge the IBF titlist, Kell Brook. At the weigh in Kell Brook hit the scales at 146.5 and Errol Spence at 146.25 so we have a fight. It’s quite odd but somehow the buildup for this fight and the chocolate brownies didn’t convince that much, but undoubtedly the quality of both fighters and the great atmosphere of the British fight fans are more than enough for me.
I have many questions, but only a few answers. Should fight fans admire Brook for fighting Spence? Will Brook eye resist Spence punching power? Will Brook´s corner stop the fight if they see him in trouble? Is the referee going to allow Brook his usual clinching tactics all night long without even warn him once? Will coming back down to 147 affect Kell punch resistance? Can Spence hurt him? Can Spence take Brook power? Will Brook tendency to brawl hurt him against Spence? Can Spence handle Brook speed? Can this bout deliver a fight of the year nominee? Can Spence get the decision in the UK? If it goes to the scorecards will we have a consensus on the winner? Will the winner move on to dominate the 147 division? Is the reader going to miss this bout?
Errol Spence is Kell Brook IBF mandatory challenger, so if Kell had avoided Errol then he would have ended stripped of his belt, so I don’t see why anyone should give much credit to Kell for fighting his mandatory. After all, Brook previously proved to be brave enough to do what many middleweights failed to do when he challenged Gennady Golovkin.
Above Brook moving back in weight I believe that his eye is a major concern, because Spence hits hard and Brook isn’t a defensive wizard. GGG is slower than Spence and was able to land cleanly on Kell without much trouble, but Spence who is a big puncher at 147 cannot be compared to GGG.
Brook was fortunate to have a corner that looks up for him when he fought against Golovkin. There have been cases when the corners allow excessive and unnecessary punishment on their boxer, just like when Antonio Margarito was brutalized by Many Pacquiao for twelve rounds without the referee, the ring doctor and even less his own corner stopped the massacre.
This is a really good fight that no serious fight fan should miss. This is not a circus fight, with a vacant belt at stake between a former Champion fighting against an unknown not even top 30 division ranked opponent. Nor it is an extra marinated hyped bout about to be past due. And I am glad that there was no soap opera build up TV program attempt previous this bout.
A friend of mine asked me if Spence can stop Brook. I replied to him that the fight must be close and competitive, but I am betting on Spence to win by late TKO, mostly because of his powerful left hand and also because he cannot leave it to the fight judges to decide if the fight is close.
But how about the readers, do you think that Spence will be able to stop a brave Brook in front of the UK fight fans?