Kell Brook: ‘No one has ever seen me at 100% before’

By Boxing News - 02/04/2020 - Comments

By Scott Gilfoid: Kell Brook (38-2, 26 KOs) is excited about him hitting the reset on his career as he heads into his fight against Mark DeLuca (24-1, 13 KOs) this Saturday. Brook, 33, says he’s training like never before, and putting in 100% effort for the first time in his long career.

This is a do or die type of fight for Brook. If he can’t beat a fighter at this level at 154, then it’s probably a good idea for Brook to retire.

Brook vs. DeLuca will be taking place this Saturday at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, UK. The fight will be shown on DAZN in the U.S and Sky Sports in the UK. The vacant World Boxing Organisation Inter-Continental 154-lb title will be on the line or the fight.

Brook says Eddie Hearn no longer calling him like before

“I know now that maybe it’s because Eddie [Hearn] isn’t phoning me up like he used to do. And maybe it’s because Dominic [Ingle], I’m not his main man,” said Brook to CR Media. “I’ve lost my title, and me personally when I’m watching them, I’m thinking, ‘You know what? Imagine if I give 100 percent.

It makes sense for Hearn not to be calling Brook like before, as his career has slowed since 2016.  Hearn obviously can’t put in valuable time into calling Brook if he’s only interested in fighting once every 14 months.

The last time Brook fought was against fringe junior middleweight contender Michael Zerafa in December 2018, and he looked horrible. That performance from showed boxing fans that he’s not the same fighter he was earlier in his career.

In Kell struggling to beat a lower level contender like Zerafa, it was clear that Brook is not going to be a major player at 154, and it’s a waste of Hearn’s time to be calling him.

Hearn only talking about Brook vs. Khan

When Hearn does talk about Brook nowadays, it’s mostly about him wanting to set up a fight with Amir Khan. In other words, Hearn appears to be looking for a cash out fight for Brook and Khan.

Brook deserves the blame for his career going belly up, as he’s not stayed active. Kell’s eye injuries that he suffered against Gennadiy Golovkin and Errol Spence Jr. is arguably the catalyst that led to him staying out of the ring for increasingly long periods of time. Brook should have been able to come back from the injuries, and resume his spot as a major player at 147. Instead, Brook stayed out of the ring, and seemed to lack the motivation to fight on a regular basis.

Brook motivated on becoming two-weight world champion

“I see it being a sensational performance, I really do,” said Brook to CR Media. “I’m not worried about who it is on the 8th of February. It wouldn’t matter to me because I’m in this frame of mind, and I’m happy. I think a happy fighter is a dangerous fighter. Forgetting all that, just the spiritual position I’m in right now.

“Whatever you put your mind to, you’re going to do,” said Brook. “It’s like winning a world title. I know on February the 8th, I will be victorious, and I’m looking for a sensational performance. What motivates me now is becoming a two-weight world champion.

“The reason is because fighters don’t say this, but I’ve always cut corners. I never gave 100 percent, and I’ve always relied on my ability. I’ve always taken it for granted, and gotten away with it one way or another,” said Brook about him not giving 100 percent in the past.

Brook did gas out in his only two career losses against GGG and Spence. He looked great through the first 3 to 6 rounds in both of those contests. But once Brook faded, Golovkin and Spence took over the fights, and ended up stopping him. If Brook has improved his stamina to where he can fight hard for 12 rounds, he’ll be a different guy.

’33’ is just a number says Brook

“This is the new me.’ I just think spiritually now that I’ve matured, and I really feel that even though I’m 33, it’s just a number,” said Brook. I’m sharp, and I’m doing things I’ve never done.

“I’ve never been at the weight for so long, and it’s put me unbelievable in a state where before I thought, ‘I can’t shoot these big shots because I might end up blowing later on in the fight,'” said Brook about his old belief system when fighting. “But now because I’m so healthy, and I’m at the weight and I’m eating so well, I just feel that I can go, go again. I’ve never felt like that before,” added Brook.

33 isn’t old for a junior middleweight, but Brook’s 4 years of being a part time fighter from 2016 to 2020, it’s going to hurt. A fighter can’t throw away 4 years of their career, and think that they’re the same guy that they once were. Even Muhammd Ali was a shadow of his former self when he lost 4 years of the prime of his career when he chose not to be drafted into the U.S military.

The problem that Brook has is he lacks the size to fight at 154, and his history of eye problems could further limit his effectiveness in that weight class. Most boxing fans agree that the 5’9″ Brook would be better suited to fighting at 147, because he’s not dealing with guys that would have a huge height and weight advantage over him.

If you put Brook in with the 6’0″ Jermell Charlo, and 5’11” Jeison Rosario at junior middleweight, he’s going to be too over-matched.

Brook insists fans will see “unbelievable” things from him

“So I’m interested and excited to see what I’ve got left, and I believe, especially what I’m doing in the gym,” said Brook. “If I can mirror that into the fight, I will be world champion again without a shadow of a doubt. I just feel complete, and I feel complete with my life. Everything is going so well, and I’m feeling so good.

“I’m realizing that my career should be coming to an end, and I know Bernard Hopkins went onto nearly 50 or whatever it were, but that’s what I feel,” said Brook. “I’m like 33 is just a number to me. People say to me, ‘when you get to that age, how can you be in your prime?’

“But I’m probably past my prime, but because I’ve been cutting corners before, nobody has ever seen the real 100% me. So I feel that just doing that, you’re going to see something unbelievable in me,” said Brook.

Beating DeLuca isn’t going to prove much for Brook. He’s going to need to show the boxing world that he’s capable of beating an elite level junior middleweight or welterweight if he wants to convince them. Knowing Brook’s clever promoter Hearn, he’s probably not going to want to match him against any of the lions in the 154-lb division. That would end badly.

Is Kell capable of beating top level competition at 154?

Brook would probably struggle even against some of the fading junior middleweights like Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout. Given how much time Brook has been out of the ring, it might take him 3 to 5 tune-ups for him to get the rust out of his system to where he’s ready for the talented junior middleweights.

That’s not going to happen though. If anything, Hearn will likely throw Brook to the lions in his next fight in a sink or swim manner, and he’ll likely fail in a spectacular way by getting knocked out or stopped on another eye injury.