Former IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook will be trying to revive his sinking career on March 3 in a fight in the junior middleweight division in Sheffield, England. Brook will be fighting for the first time since being stopped in the 11th round by Errol Spence Jr. on May 27 at Bramall Lane in Sheffield.
Brook suffered a broken eye socket in the loss to Spence, which was the second fight in a row that he’d lost and experienced an eye injury. Brook suffered the same injury in his loss to IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in September last year, but it was to a different eye than the one he suffered against Spence.
In the best possible world, Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn will get Brook a fight against Sadam Ali and then Amir Khan, which both winnable fights for him.
Hearn hasn’t said who he plans on putting inside the ring with him on March 3. All Hearn is saying is the fight will be at 154 for Brook, and he thinks he can be successful in that weight class. At 31, Brook might be at the end of his career unless Hearn can skillfully get the last bit out his body before he’s officially done. As things look right now, Brook looked like he’s past it. We’ll likely see that if Hearn has the daring to put Brook in with WBC champion Jermell Charlo, WBA champ Erislandy Lara or IBF belt holder Jarrett Hurd. Don’t hold your breath waiting for Hearn to match Brook against any of those guys, because he’s too smart for that. Hearn is already making it known that he plans on matching Brook against WBO junior middleweight champion Sadam Ali after he takes a warm-up fight on March 3. Ali isn’t a known for having devastating punching power.
“We need to get Kell back in love with the sport. He’s coming off two defeats and some criticism, which he didn’t take well, so we need to get him winning and enjoying it,” said Hearn to skysports.com. “He could have five fights left in him. It’s a tough division. It’s not just about world titles, at this stage. It’s about being involved in big fights. The Amir Khan fight remains something he, and all of Britain, wants.”
If Hearn focuses entirely on business related fights for Brook against guys like Amir Khan, he’ll be alright. There’s no risk for Brook against Khan. There’s still plenty of British boxing fans interested in seeing that fight in the UK, even though Khan has seemingly lost interest in the sport after being knocked cold last year by Saul Canelo Alvarez. Khan has looked like a broken, over-the-hill fighter since his back to back losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia in 2011-2012, Khan has rarely fought since those defeats, and he’s not beaten anyone that you can call an upper echelon fighter.
Brook is said to be interested in fighting the likes of Jarrett Hurd, Erislandy Lara, Sadam Ali and Jermell Charlo. Of those names, Ali is the likeliest one that Brook will be matched against by Hearn. He’s already mentioned Ali’s name as the fighter he wants Brook to face. Hurd, Lara, and Charlo probably will never be matched against Brook. Hearn isn’t going to put Brook in a situation where he doesn’t have a better than average chance of winning. That’s not Hearn’s style. He tends to match his money fighters against guys that they can beat.