by James Slater – As some fans may already have read, it has been officially announced how this Friday night’s intriguing British welterweight title fight between defending champion and possible star of the future Kell Brook and former British champion Michael Jennings, has been called off. Due to a virus infection suffered by Brook, the anticipated fight that was due to take place at The Echo Arena in Liverpool will now have to wait for a new date..
Hopefully, a replacement date can be found, and soon. It is not yet known whether or not the remainder of Friday night’s card (scheduled to be shown live on Sky Sports) will go ahead. Also due to fight in Liverpool are fierce rivals Tony Quigley and Paul Smith (who are set to meet for the British super middleweight belt currently held by Quigley) along with unbeaten former Olympian gold medallist James DeGale and fellow stand out amateur Frankie Gavin. Unbeaten prospect Jamie Cox (see exclusive interview below) is also supposed to be in action.
While the rest of the bill could conceivably go ahead as planned, Friday night won’t be the same without the juicy main event. Brook cannot be blamed for what has happened, as he was simply unable to finish his training camp due to the virus he picked up. Jennings, looking to shock the odds and become the first man to beat the highly touted possible star who has just picked up The Young Boxer Of the Year award in Britain, will surely be massively deflated.
It’s unlikely, if the remainder of the card does go ahead, that a replacement foe can be brought in for Jennings so as to allow him to keep busy and not completely waste the hard training he’s undoubtedly put in for the Brook fight.
But if Jennings doesn’t fight on Friday, will he demand a tune-up fight ahead of the re-scheduled fight with Brook? It will depend on how long it takes for the fight to be re-set, and hopefully this will be soon, this year all being well.
For the record, 23-year-old Brook, 20-0(13) has not fought since July. 32-year-old Jennings, 35-2(17) – best known to U.S fight fans for his losing effort against Miguel Cotto – last fought in May of this year, when he bounced back from the 5th-round TKO defeat to win at domestic level. Brook was to have made a fourth defence of his British title.