British Boxing News
Ricky Burns (31-4-1, 11 KOs) will be hunting for his 3rd division world title next year at light welterweight. He’s given up on the idea of saying at 135 due to the problems he’s been having in making weight for the class.
Burns and his manager Alex Morrison feel that a move up to light welterweight will result in Burns having the strength and energy that has recently abandoned him. Burns is scheduled to fight for the first time at 140 on October 4th in Leeds.
WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz has no doubts in his mind that unbeaten #2 IBF Carl Frampton (18-0, 13 KOs) will come out on top in his title challenge against IBF 122 pound champion Kiko Martinez (31-4, 23 KOs) in their rematch next month on September 6th at the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
It’s actually not that hard for Santa Cruz to pick Frampton as the winner in this fight, because Frampton stopped Martinez in the 9th round in their fight last year in February. It’s not that Frampton can punch any harder than Martinez can. It’s more of a case that he’s able to take advantage of the way that Martinez leaves himself open when he’s attacking his opponents.
IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs) is starting to sound a little needy and desperate in hopes of getting a fight against Amir Khan in 2015. Brook wants the negotiations with Khan to start pronto, and he doesn’t seem to want to wait.
Brook needs to get control of his emotions and play it cool or he could scare Khan off with how desperate he’s sounding.
Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn says that Khan’s management still hasn’t made contact with him about a Khan-Brook fight. At this point there’s no reason for Golden Boy Promotions to contact Hearn about a Khan-Brook fight, because they have no intention of fighting him next.
Dominic Ingle, the trainer for IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs), doesn’t want him to take his career backwards for his first title defense on December 6th in Sheffield by taking on an easy opponent.
Ingle wants Brook to face a high level opponent because he sees that in helping him get ready for one of the bigger fights like Amir Khan or Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The knock on Brook is he’s spent most of his 10-year pro career fighting tune-up type bouts. Last Saturday, Brook finally fought a good opponent in Shawn Porter, and he was able to somehow get the victory by nullifying Porter’s offense on the inside with frequent clinching.
If a fight between Amir Khan and IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook can take place next year, it might require for Khan to take the lesser money and accept being the B-side of the equation.
Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn is dropping some big hints that Khan may not get the money split that he once could have got if he had taken the fight against Brook before he captured the IBF 147 pound title last Saturday night against Porter.
In Hearn’s mind, the IBF strap and the win over Porter changes everything. Khan doesn’t have the IBF title and he not in the position to call the shots like he could have in the past.
“Obviously, before Khan should get the bigger end because he’s the bigger name,” Hearn said to IFL TV. “Khan never did great numbers on pay-per-view. When he went to Sheffield last time, they really didn’t sell any tickets.
Kell Brook’s win over IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter last Saturday night has put ideas into Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn’s head about wanting to match him not only against former IBF/WBA 140 pound champion Amir Khan in 2015, but also to put him in with WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0. 26 KOs).
Roach feels that the 28-year-old Brook rates a fight with Mayweather now that he’s in possession of the IBF 147 pound title.
Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn is dreaming big as far as potential opponents he’d like to line his fighter WBA welterweight champion Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs) against next year in 2015. On his wish list is Amir Khan, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao.
Hearn will have to use all of his skills as a promoter to lure Pacuiao or Mayweather into a fight against Brook. The only way it makes a lot of sense is if they agree to come over to the UK and fight Brook in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London, UK.
If everything goes as planned we could see a fight between British welterweights Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) and IBF 147 pound champion Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs) for early 2015 in a large stadium like the Wembley Stadium in London, UK.
Hearn is hoping that Khan will see the huge money that he can potentially make in the fight and decide to take it based on that. It’s pretty clear that Brook needs at least one more solid win under him before a fight between him and Khan could become a really huge event. To be sure, a Khan-Brook fight would be a big success in the UK, because many fans like the fight right now.
Hatton knows what kinds of skills that Brook has, because he lost to him a couple of years ago by a 12 round decision. Hatton took Brook’s best shots for the first 8 rounds, and fought well in the last four rounds after Brook gassed out. Brook has since taken care of his stamina problems by carefully monitoring his diet.
“I think he’s got a great chance going into this fight,” Hatton said to Skyboxing.com. “I believe Kell is a special fighter. I believe he can do it.”
RICKY HATTON has stated that Kiwi hopeful Joseph Parker isn’t even on Hatton Promotions’ radar for Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne.
Parker defeated little known American Keith Thompson this weekend and has mentioned a showdown with Browne on numerous occasions.
But as Browne, who holds the Commonwealth, WBC EPBC and WBA Inter-continental crowns, is ranked highly by the three main world governing bodies and seemingly on the verge of a world title shot, the match-up is highly unlikely at present.
“I’ve heard Parker’s team say Lucas is scared of them, which is laughable,” Ricky said.