Eddie Hearn says he likes the idea of Kell Brook and Conor Benn fighting at welterweight. Brook looked sensational last Saturday night in stopping Amir Khan in the sixth round in their mega-fight at the AO Arena in Manchester, England.
The way Brook performed, he looked like the same fighter that had given middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin a lot of trouble before bowing out with an eye injury in their fight in 2016.
Physically, Brook looks virtually unchanged fro what he was six years ago when he heroically battled GGG at middleweight.
Hearn feels there’s no point in Brook (40-3, 28 KOs) moving up to 154 to face the much bigger Chris Eubank Jr. in a big-money domestic fight when you have the unbeaten popular 147-lb corner Benn (20-0, 13 KOs) in that weight class.
Brook, 35, wouldn’t need to move up in weight if he fought Benn, and there would be a tremendous amount of interest in that fight.
Brook vs. Benn = Brilliant fight
“Watching the fight I had a couple of thoughts. This would’ve been such an unbelievable fight in their primes, it was still exciting,” said Eddie Hearn to the DAZN Boxing Show.
“Massive props to Khan because he was absolutely shot to pieces. He wouldn’t give up.
“Kell Brook vs Conor Benn is a brilliant fight. I said to Kell last night, ‘Why would you even think about fighting Chris Eubank Jr, a middleweight, when you can fight a huge welterweight fight vs Conor Benn?'”
“One guy at the backend of his career, one guy a risking star [Benn]. It is too early, is it too late?
“My feeling is, I don’t think Kell is looking at the Eubank fight, going, ‘Yeah, that’s a fight I really fancy.’ It’s just about the money,” said Hearn.
If Hearn were willing to give Benn the green light to face former IBF welterweight champion Brook, it would be an excellent fight that would make both fighters a lot of money.
For the time being, Hearn plans on matching Benn against 34-year-old Chris van Heerden on April 16th in a learning fight.
There’s much Benn will get from fighting van Heerden, though, because he looked absolutely dreadful in his last fight two years ago against Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
For anyone that saw the Ennis-Van Heerden fight, there’s nothing for Benn to learn from fighting the South African.
Kell will fight again
“The great thing about Kell that I have to give him a lot of credit and respect for is probably for the last seven months, he’s dedicated himself to that training camp. You saw the results of that.
“He made weight at 149 comfortably and looked like he had a tremendous engine in the fight,” Hearn said of Brook.
“I wish he had that same dedication when he fought Shawn Porter because part of me is frustrated because I felt that Kell was such a brilliant talent when he beat Shawn Porter [in 2014].
“Maybe it came a little bit too early for him in his life where he wasn’t ready to make the sacrifices that maybe he was prepared to make for the Amir Khan fight.
“I was really pleased that he nailed a big payday there, and a lot of people over here are calling for him to retire. It’s pretty sweet to walk away after a victory like that.
“You saw Carl Froch do it against George Groves in Wembley. I had the Chavez fight lined up for him. He said, ‘No, this is a great way to bow out.’ I was like, ‘No, don’t do it!’
“Money talks, and Kell Brook will fight again I’m sure if the money is right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5paQcby1FiU