By Michael Collins: Eddie Hearn, the promoter for unbeaten welterweight contender Kell Brook (27-0, 18 KO’s), would still very much like to see Brook facing WBA light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana on July 7th in Sheffield. Maidana’s adviser already said that’s not going to happen because the money being offered isn’t good enough for Maidana to take the fight when he can make better money fighting elsewhere.
It looks like Hearn will have to sweeten his offer substantially if he wants to draw a big name like Maidana or else he’ll have to be satisfied with matching Brook against fringe contenders and/or 2nd tier opposition like he’s been doing lately. Hearn might as well not even bother saying he’s going to be matching Brook against big named opposition if he’s not sure he can do it. The last time that Brook fought, Hearn was talking long and hard about how Brook was going to be fighting some mystery big name that people will be excited about. But who did Brook get? Matthew Hatton.
I guess if you’re looking at this from a domestic level perspective, Hatton is a big name. But that’s not what boxing fans were thinking of when Hearn was talking about putting Brook in with a top fighter.
To get a popular fighter to come all the way to the UK on July 7th to fight Brook, who isn’t well known yet despite a high ranking by the WBO, Hearn is going to have to at least match what these fighters are getting elsewhere. He may even need to more than match it because Hearn wants them to fight Brook in the UK, where there’s no guaranteed that they’ll walk out of there with a decision. Who wants to fight in front of 10,000 hostile fans knowing that there could be a chance that you might get jobbed?
Brook looked decent against Hatton, but hardly unbeatable. He’s easy to hit, his hand speed is average, and his stamina is limited. Brook looked good up until the 9th round, at which point he started looking tired and taking shots from Hatton. I can only imagine what would have happened to Brook had he been in with a good fighter in the top 5 that had some skills. I think it would have gone badly for Brook. Maybe he shouldn’t be looking to fight a big name because his hype train could get derailed before it even starts.