By David Alexander: The 27-year-old mandatory challenger Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs) has been hailed as one of the hottest talents in America ahead of his first world title fight against Kell Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) at Bramall Lane, United Kingdom on Saturday. Brook proved himself at the top level when he took the IBF belt with a UD win over Shawn Porter (27-1-2, 17 KOs), but is returning from a punishing stoppage defeat to Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs). Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr. who was raised in Texas, will travel across the pond to Sheffield, England to face a hostile and pro-Brook crowd on May 27.
The UK has been one of the biggest draws in the boxing world, with record setting crowds and tickets sold. The biggest obvious example of this was the Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko heavyweight title fight on April 29th. That fight lived up to the hype and arguably it was one of the best boxing bouts in the last decade. Anthony Joshua is the real deal and can be one of the best heavyweight boxers in the next decade, a prideful example of the UK boxing future.
Unfortunately, besides Anthony Joshua, American boxing has shown lately that fighting in the UK’s backyard isn’t once it was. Home field advantage seems like a given to UK-based boxers in big title fights but that advantage has been lost lately and it will continue after the Spence Jr. vs. Brook fight.
IBF super featherweight champion Gervonta Davis (18-0, 17 KOs) wasted little time hitting the road as he went to England for the first defense of his title against Liam Walsh (21-1, 14 KOs) last Saturday night at the Copper Box Arena in London, England. And once he got there, he wasted even less time dispatching his challenger, stopping Liam Walsh with an emphatic third-round TKO to remain undefeated. The loss was the first of Walsh’s career. Davis destroyed the undefeated Englishman and with Floyd Mayweather beside him, put the UK on notice. Errol Spence Jr. will continue that trend that Davis has started in 2017.
Spence might need a knockout to get the victory against Special K. The UK crowd will be firmly on Brook’s side during the fight, which means everything that Brook does inside the ring on the night will be cheered by his fans. The good news for Spence is he won’t need the judges, because he’s a good enough KO puncher to take Brook out in short order. Spence has had weeks of sparring with the bigger WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo (29-0, 14 KOs) to help him prepare for this fight.
This should help Spence deal with Brook’s junior middleweight frame. Brook was bigger than GGG in terms of weight when they fought last September. You can expect Brook to have a similar weight advantage over Spence. However, Brook is likely to be weight drained by fight time. You probably won’t see Brook wear down right away, but by the second half of the fight, we could see him gas out and take a beating from Spence.
Kell Brook will have a lot of pressure on him to fight until the very last. He’s got to prove to the boxing fans that he can go down with the ship this time rather than jumping overboard when the going gets tough by letting his corner throw in the towel once again. Quitting is never a good thing in boxing, and it sure looked like Brook quit against GGG. I hope Brook doesn’t revert to form and then start with the injury excuses afterwards.
Errol Spence Jr. is the real deal. Boxing legends Sugar Ray Leonard and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have said this and American boxing have so as well. It’s time that the UK boxing world will find out “The Truth” will be finally said on May 27th and that truth is that American Boxing in the welterweight division has a bright future ahead in the world.
