By Shaun La: This past Saturday, professional boxing in the welterweight division displayed a very competitive bout that lived up to the the heavily promoted expectations that lived over Kell Brook (36-2, 25 KO’s) vs. Errol Spence Jr. (22-0, 19 KO’s). The welterweight division has been the depth of talent in professional boxing for these past 25 or 30 years; furthermore, this division has held the most famous and legendary boxers in professional boxing, from Floyd Mayweather Jr. to Manny Pacquiao, to Sugar Ray Robinson to Sugar Ray Leonard.
My Opinion on Kell Brook: As boxing fans often respond to this sport, “It is Boxing, What can you do about it?”
Congratulations to Errol Jr. for winning the IBF championship! However, to the dedicated fans of Errol Jr., could we set to the side, the understandingly biased perception (which is a form of supporting & celebrating your boxer’s terrific win) & evaluate this IBF Championship bout for a moment. Kell was doing well, winning some early rounds and at times, he had Errol Jr. in some positions, where we actually witnessed who was the more experienced boxer—but Errol Jr. adjusted to this and he found a way to win with applying strong pressure to Kell’s body. To balance this train of thought out: to the devoted fans of Kell, do not offer any excuses for your favorite boxer. Both boxers were professional and went into this bout with every intention to win.
Remember his previous bout vs. Gennady:
What cannot be ignored would be the situation that Kell found himself in, again, an eye injury to his other eye, his left eye this time around with Errol Jr. Being a competitive champion, Kell took a step up into the middleweight division without a second thought, accepting the chance to box the middleweight king and champion, Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KO’s). It does not matter if Kell thought that he had a chance or if he was impatient and willing to be competitively daring: he took a bold chance and he did better than what some professional middleweight contenders have done against Gennady. But he lost.
The reason why I mention the Gennady bout, is due to the connection to my point that I am about to share. As the attention floated over Kell making weight for his IBF welterweight championship bout with Errol Jr. and if his right eye socket had fully healed after it had gone through surgery. Nobody could have predicted or anticipated that his left eye would be the reason why he justifiably halted his participation in the 11th round of a championship bout from this past Saturday.
No excuses, this is just a wonder:
When I watched the bout, I could see Kell’s eye gaining some swelling before the 11th round. At one point and time, his coach had an enswell in his hand. Before I knew what was going on with Kell’s left eye, and the championship bout was halted, I said to myself, “why does his coach (Dominic Ingle) have the enswell?” This is not to say that a boxing coach cannot perform the duties of a cut-man in their boxer’s corner, but, if your professional champion has experienced a serious eye injury in their previous boxing bout—-would it be proper preparations to have someone in the corner who specializes in the understanding of facial tissue or eye puffiness? In some professional bouts, where the purse might not be a lucrative one, the coach will play every role in the corner of their boxer, from encourager to cut-man to the water man. With other professional bouts, when the purse happens to be a lucrative amount, the trusting connection between the coach & his boxer might be so strong, they feel as though the coach knows his boxer well enough to be their cut-man and saving money does not have anything to do with the coach being the cut-man.
The great Roy Jones Jr. used to have a physician as his cut-man in his corner. Undefeated and some would say the greatest boxer in our modern time, Floyd Jr. had Rafael Garcia, who would wear his unique signature cap covered with pins, as he was in the corner of Floyd Jr. Prone to eye swelling that would make boxing fans speculate if he could continue to box, the late champion, Arturo Gatti had Joe Souza in his corner to care for his eyes or bleeding. A cut-man in boxing is a supportive beam for a boxer and the entire corner.
In no way, shape or form, would I question the true sincerity from Kell’s corner in wanting the best outcome for their boxer. It was his coach who did the right thing when Gennady injured Kell’s right eye. It is certainly plausible to wonder why his corner did not have someone dedicated to eye swelling or facial bruises in their corner. Maybe they did, but if this is the case, what happened? Boxing can be a war inside of the ring, so, the aftermath cannot always be figured out during real-time.
The eyes of a boxer is the heart of their courage:
You need your vision in order to box. Anybody who thinks that Kell quit due to not having the heart to go on, has an issue with understanding boxing. How Kell was defeated on his own turf could seem deeply disappointing; especially to his own mentality. Even if we play Monday morning boxing champion, and say, “well, did Kell and his team try any training drills where if his eyesight had become blurry or he had to depend on his vision from one eye, kind of offense or defense?” This kind of training drill does not seem too far out there. Some boxers will close their eyes when they are hitting the pads and other boxers will train with one arm tied to their body. Orthodox boxers will try a Southpaw stance (which Kell has done well with in the past) and Southpaw boxers will train in the orthodox position. They are way too many bases for a boxer to cover while training, not focusing on one can be very rational, as progress is an essential part of a training camp.
What makes Kell’s defeat from Errol Jr., even more compelling, would be that we know he has the heart of a champion, but this loss has mirrored a boxing career, full of large obstacles, from the years of trying to get a big, popular bout with his fellow countryman, Amir Khan, to having to give up fighting for the IBF championship belt due to injuries outside of the boxing ring. Kell did not win the title until his 33rd professional bout. Boxing fans in the United States would routinely state that they hardly knew of his boxing skills—which does not mean that he could not box. What it did define, would be how professional boxing in the United States has a value of fame to it, where a professional boxer could become a brand: earning huge income outside of the sport of boxing.
Being Injured does not fit into quitting:
First of all, Kell is not a quitter. If an American football player, let us say, a running back is injured while completing a running play, tackled, stays on the ground and has to exit the game with the help of the team’s trainers, does he fit into the box of being titled, a quitter? Boxing is the most combative, professional sport, ever. Great boxers such as Roberto Durán and Oscar De La Hoya have quit on the stool in their own corner. (Any true boxing fan can comprehend that Roberto and Oscar put their heart on the line throughout their entire career.) Therefore, quitting may shed a disappointing prism on a boxer, but it does not take away from their championship qualities. I make mention of the differences between quitting and being injured to explain, that there is no dishonor in a boxing saying that they have had enough, just as there is no full explanation on how to handle an injury while in a professional boxing bout; furthermore, there is no shame in a boxer being injured and not continuing to fight. Especially if they had a similar injury, in their previous bout, not only a similar injury, but to a new part of their body.
Does he lace up the gloves again or does he let his legacy explain itself?:
Kell has to take time off. As true boxing fans relish the Sweet-Science of a combative chess-match inside of a boxing ring, nobody in their right mind would want to see a boxer die in the ring or risk their health to a point of no return. Part of me would not question Kell approving his own retirement from the sport, and another part of me, would not mind seeing Kell vs. Amir.
Going up in weight to Jr. Middleweight may seem like a promoter’s way of thinking and if one would apply a logical approach to advancing to a higher weight class; one could produce a glimpse that a higher weight class could introduce Kell to bouts with harder punchers than those that came from the welterweight division—harder punchers who will surely aim for his eyes and face, could be conclusions where Kell is dealing with serious health issues pertaining to his eyesight. Boxing has had its share of boxers going too far and we have had to admire their courage but feel some sorrow in knowing that they put their health on the line way too many times, when the warning signs were there for them to reconsider their place in this sport.
Above all else, before any decision to retire or accept a new opponent inside of the boxing ring, would be this first step: he needs to fully recover, enjoy his life, his peace of mind and perhaps look at the sport of boxing from afar, not as a champion or former champion, but from a spectator’s view, advocating the Sweet-Science to be a clean sport with professional bouts that are competitive.
To box two world-class boxers, consecutively, and give them your best training & efforts while boxing within a square ring, but still come off with similar injuries to different parts of your body, are not outcomes any champion or boxer could fully expect. Nobody can doubt his championship heart as a boxer, but right now, Kell does not need to fight with himself about this sport. After all, he was a part of a highly competitive welterweight championship bout and the welterweight division has been the daylight crown of boxing for many years now. He is from England, he knows that kings have won and lost battles as well as wars, while finding a way to recognize the concept of peace. Do not box against your peace, Kell.