Herol Graham, Naseem Hamed, Johnny Nelson, Junior Witter, Ryan Rhodes. These are just some of the talented fighters to have risen from the famous Wincobank gym in Sheffield and either won or fought for a world title. But for all the achievements of the cherished Ingle gym, one fighter will give the boxing gym its finest success, one to top all previous glories, if he can shock the odds and pull off a victory later on this year.
Kell Brook, the current IBF welterweight champion who will move up two weight classes to challenge the formidable and feared Gennady Golovkin in less than a month, walked into the Ingle gym many years ago.
Yet now he has the opportunity to give the place that taught him everything he knows about his chosen profession its landmark triumph. Hamed lit up the featherweight division like few fighters before or since, Graham dazzled fans and opponents with his silky skills, and Nelson reigned for years as a cruiserweight king. Yet Brook, if he can topple Triple-G on September 10, will surpass the combined achievements of his former gym mates.
So says Brook’s trainer Dominic Ingle. Speaking with The Star, Ingle, son of the famed Brendan Ingle, said Brook would give the gym something massive if he can pull it off and become world middleweight ruler next month.
“I think it has to be seen as the biggest achievement,” Ingle said of Brook’s upcoming fight and if he can win it. “Going up two weights and beating the unified world champion would be seen as better than anything else. A Kell Brook win, really, is our biggest challenge and will be our greatest achievement.”
Brook is leaving absolutely no stone unturned in preparations, and it is likely Ingle will also be going the extra mile in trying to come up with a game-plan for his fighter to use so as to be successful that huge night at The O2 in London. If – and the critics of both Brook and this match-up are plentiful and they maintain it is a very big, even colossal, if – Brook can win, will he be ranked above Hamed, the Ingle gym’s biggest star to date? “Naz” scored very good wins over the likes of Kevin Kelley, Tom Johnson, Vuyani Bungu and others during his career and he made a big impact all over the world. In terms of most exciting Sheffield fighter, Hamed’s status will not be affected whatever happens on September 10.
But never did Hamed face an unbeaten wrecking machine the quality of GGG; not even Marco Antonio Barrera, who of course beat Hamed, being looked at the same way Golovkin is viewed today. Brook is taking the biggest challenge there is, as too is his gym and its reputation. “The Steel City” has produced some great fighters and some great wins throughout boxing history, but what Brook would accomplish if he won this mission impossible would indeed top the lot.