By Tim Royner: Eddie Hearn will be announcing Kell Brook’s come back fight next week according @MichaelBensonn. There’s no word yet on the date or what division the 33-year-old Brook will be fighting at.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn is going to upset a lot of fans if he puts Brook’s fight on Sky Box Office, because he hasn’t stayed active enough for him to be viewed as a pay-per-view fighter.
Brook needs to break the tune-up cycle
Given all the warm-up fights that Brook has had since his loss to Errol Spence Jr. in May 2017, it would be a good idea for Kell to take on a decent fighter. If he’s going to fight at 154, then former WBO champion Liam Smith would be an excellent option. Smith is a decent fringe level junior middleweight, but he’s got enough talent to give Brook something to think about.
It would be a hard fight for Brook facing Liam, but at least he would give the fans something to see. What they don’t want is another tune-up followed by 12 months of inactivity. Obviously, Brook wouldn’t stay out of the ring if he was hurting for money.
There was a time in Brook’s career when he active, and had a large following of fans. However, Hearn’s decision to match Brook against former middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin in September 2016 has to injuries that stopped his career growth.
Brook has been chasing after Amir Khan trying to get a fight against him, but it’s been a big waste of time. Khan isn’t ready to fight Brook yet, and it’s quite possible that he never will.
Former IBF welterweight champion Brook (38-2, 26 KOs) hasn’t fought in the 12 months since his grueling 12 round unanimous decision win over Michael Zerafa last December. Brook won the fight by the scores 118-110, 119-109, 117-111.
Morning session done pic.twitter.com/JDzzlA87iA
— Kell Brook (@SpecialKBrook) December 11, 2019
Kell better off fighting at 147
Brook’s tendency to suffer eye injuries makes it a bad idea for him to be fighting at 154 at this point. He needs to do whatever it takes for him to move back down to 147, because he could get hurt again if he stays at 154. The way that Brook struggled in his last fight to beat lower level junior middleweight Zerafa showed that he doesn’t belong at 154.
Paydays are better at 147, and Brook might do well if he can get a fight against the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia or Terence Crawford.
Brook needs to start thinking about retiring from boxing, because he’s not staying active. That’s the worst thing a fighter can do. It takes too long to get back to where you were before. In Brook’s case, he had already missed a lot of time with his eye injuries.