By Tim Royner: Kell Brook (36-2, 25 KOs) says he picked out Sergey Rabchenko (29-2, 22 KOs) for his next fight on March 3, because he wanted someone that would give him a real fight. This was supposed to be a confidence building fight for the 31-year-old Brook, but it could turn out to be a disaster for him if he gets worn down and stopped again.
Brook has suffered injury related defeats in his last 2 fights to Errol Spence Jr. and Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin. Brook suffered broken eye sockets in both fights. He’s supposedly at 100 percent following his latest surgery, but you never know.
We’re going to see if Brook can hold together physically through the fight against the hard hitting Rabchenko. If Brook can make it through the fight without suffering an injury, it would be his first match that he hasn’t suffered an injury since his win over Kevin Bizier 2 years ago in March 2016.
“I want to be involved in some exciting fights and then call it a day,” Brook said to IFL TV. “I’d love to win another world title at light middleweight. I think I’ll be fresher at light middleweight without having to drain myself to make the 10-pound limit. It’s going to be tough, but I didn’t want an easy fight. I might not have trained as hard and not reached the heights in training that I should. Taking this fight has made me train really hard, because I know this guy is coming. It’s going to be a real fight,” Brook said.
Brook’s self confidence looks to be at an all time low. He doesn’t talk same way he did before he lost back to back fights to Golovkin and Spence. Brook sounds like he’s ready to hang up the gloves. He seems to think he’s old at 31, which isn’t old at all. Never the less, Brook talks like he’s an old guy, and he’s not going to go much further in the sport with his current attitude.
The world title at 154 that Brook is targeting is the WBO belt held by Sadam Ali. Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn is going to need to make a big money offer to Golden Boy Promotions if he wants to get Sadam to fight him. There’s also the question of whether the World Boxing Organization will force Ali to defend against his #1 contender Liam Smith before he could get a chance to make a voluntary defense against Brook.
If Ali faces Smith, he’ll probably lose because he’s smaller and weaker him. Ali is the only champion at 154 that Brook would have a good chance of beating. IBF champion Jarrett Hurd is too big, and the other 2 champions at 154 Jermall Charlo and Erislandy Lara are also far too dangerous for Brook to be able to get past them.
Brook is really looking forward to a fight against Amir Khan later this year. Khan has signed with Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, and he wants to put them in with each other in December. They both need to win their next 2 fights before that match can be made. There’s a lot of pressure on Khan and Brook to keep winning until then. Brook is making it hard on himself by choosing a very tough opponent in Rabchenko in his first fight back following his second eye surgery.
I want to prove I’m the better fighter. I want 3 fights this year,” Brook said.
Brook should think one fight at a time instead of setting goals that he might have the physical health to meet.