Brook wants Spence rematch after DeLuca fight

By Boxing News - 02/05/2020 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Kell Brook says he wants either Errol Spence Jr. or Amir Khan next after he defeats Mark DeLuca this Saturday night in his comeback on February 8 on DAZN at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England.

Despite IBF/WBC welterweight champion Spence (26-0, 22 KOs) having been involved in a terrible car crash last October, Brook (38-2, 26 KOs) is targeting him for his next fight.

Spence-Brook would be a rematch of their May 27, 2017 fight in which Brook was stopped in the 11th round by Errol at Bramall Lane Football Ground in Sheffield. Brook suffered a broken eye socket early in that contest, and he was forced to fight with the injury the rest of the way.

Brook was beating Spence

Before the injury, Brook was giving Spence all he could handle. It was bad luck on Brook’s part that he suffered the injury early on in the fight. Had Brook suffered the injury in the 10th or 11th, he would have likely made it through the fight and won a decision. Without the eye injury, Brook would have an excellent chance of beating Spence.

It’s unclear how Spence, 29, and his handlers would view putting together a rematch with Brook at this point. On one hand, it would be a good tune-up fight for Spence, but it could also be risky if he’s not recovered fully from his car crash on October 10.

“I would love the rematch with Spence,” said Brook to ESPN.com. “He said he wants to fight again this year and he wants to be back in the big fights.”If Spence fought me again the boxing world would really get to know who is the better fighter,” said Brook.

Spence doesn’t have much to gain from fighting Brook at this point, as he already beat him in 2017. Apart from this, Brook has stalled his career by not fighting often, and facing weak opposition when he would fight.  Brook isn’t talked about by boxing fans nowadays, he’s not ranked in the top 15 at 147, and he won’t attract attention in a fight with Spence.

What Spence’s management will be looking for in his next fight is someone that the U.S boxing fans are interested in seeing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a tune-up level opponent. The fans in the U.S want to see Spence fight someone they’re familiar with, and Brook doesn’t fit that description.

Kell says he’ll retire if he loses to DeLuca

Brook says he’ll retire if he loses to the Massachusetts native DeLuca (24-1, 13 KOs) on Saturday. With the possibility of retirement hanging over his head,  Brook is putting a lot of pressure on himself to perform against DeLuca.

Moreover, Brook is also saying that he’ll think about retiring even if he wins. If Brook struggles to beat DeLuca, he says he’ll consider retiring.

“If I lose to DeLuca I will announce my retirement in the ring after,” Brook said to ESPN.com.

Brook, 33, is getting a little ahead of himself in talking about who he wants to face after his match against DeLuca. As bad as Brook looked in his last bout against Michael Zerafa, DeLuca, 31, has a real chance of winning on Saturday.

DeLuca is an underdog, but he’s a tough fighter, who can take a punch, and he’s been active. Zerafa showed that you don’t need to be the most talented fighter to give Brook problems at this point in his career. That fight showed that Brook has lost a lot from his game due to his years of fighting part time.

Would retirement be a mistake for Brook?

It’s been 14 months since Brook last fought, and it’s unreasonable for him to be thinking of retiring if he loses to DeLuca. You can argue that Brook shouldn’t be fighting someone this good anyway given how much time he’s been out of the ring.

As long as it’s not another eye injury, there’s no reason for him to retire if he loses. Brook can take weight off, and move back down to 147, and rebuild himself in that division. There’s no shame in Brook losing to DeLuca at 154, since that’s not his weight class.

If Brook loses to DeLuca, it won’t be shocking to fans.  Brook has been injury prone since his fight with Gennadiy Golovkin in 2016, and he’s not shown a sense of urgency to fight on a regular basis like normal fighters do.

Brook acknowledges that he needs to look good in this fight for him to keep alive his hopes of getting the Khan or Spence fight. It’s somewhat odd that Brook is still talking about wanting to fight Khan.

After being overlooked by Khan for his entire 16-year career, it would seem obvious at this point that Brook will NEVER get a fight against him.  It would be a good idea for Brook to put Khan out of his mind for good by focusing on other fighters that he has a realistic chance of fighting.

Staying at 154 might be a bad idea for Brook. He was at his best when he was fighting at 147. The reason he was forced to move up was due to him letting his weight get out of control in between fights, and that made training camps into fat farms for him.