Eddie Hearn spoke exclusively to Aqib Tahlat from BBN
Speaking exclusively to Aqib Tahlat from BBN, the Matchroom Boxing promoter said in response to how important this comeback fight is for Kell Brook, “It’s everything. Former world champion wants to become a two-time world champion, hasn’t boxed for a year, people say he might done; he looks, feels amazing, talking a great game so let’s see what he’s got left in the tank on Sky Sports on Saturday.”
Brook famously jumped up two divisions to middleweight to face then-unbeaten fearsome puncher Gennadiy Golovkin in 2016 and received a broken left eye socket as a result of his bravery.
He then dropped all the way back down to 147lbs again to defend his IBF world welterweight title to pound-for-pound superstar Errol Spence Jr just eight months later and fractured his right eye socket this time.
Now he is campaigning at super-welterweight for the WBO Inter-Continental title, a belt he also won at welterweight in 2010, straight after he won the Lonsdale belt outright.
‘Special K’ has said himself that he will entertain world title fights at either 147lbs or 154lbs if the right fight presents itself. But what weight between welter and middleweight suits the Sheffield man best?
Hearn gave his opinion on the matter, “I like him at 154lbs, I do think he can he make 147lbs, I do think we’re going to find out a lot about the weight on Saturday because Mark DeLuca is a big light-middleweight, so let’s see how he mixes it with him and how his strength shapes up.”
The yoyoing between three divisions to face two of the world’s best fighters resulted in two broken eye sockets for Brook. Despite being even on two of the scorecards against ‘GGG’, he had been badly battered by the Kazakh, which led to trainer Dominic Ingle throwing in the towel in the fifth round.
Against Spence Jr, he was well beaten on the cards at the time of the 11th round stoppage and was floored in both the 10th and 11th rounds.
Fans have questioned the hasty decisions to go up and down in weight against such formidable punchers, but promoter Hearn maintains that the choices were correct at the time.
“Definitely not a bad business move,” he asserted. “But the problem is, and you hear that from Kell now, Kell cut a lot of corners, he was very ill disciplined, and if we didn’t take that opportunity, we was at a stage where he was coming off the stabbing injury in Tenerife, he’d just come off a rib injury as well, we felt he may never get that multi-million pound fight.
“There was a Jessie Vargas fight that was out there for half a million, then all of a sudden this Golovkin fight come up, Kell couldn’t make welterweight anymore, and he’s thinking to himself, ‘You know what? I think I can beat Golovkin, let me step up, let me make this money,’ and that money has enabled him to actually be comfortable for the rest of his life.
“Now if he hadn’t have done his eye socket in the fight the I don’t think we would be having this same conversation, the Errol Spence fight was solely his decision , I actually said to him, ‘I think you should lose the belt and move up to light-middle,’ but he wouldn’t vacate and making 147 to fight Errol Spence coming back off 160 was brutal, and he was winning that fight comfortably until he ran out of engine, but Kell Brook is one of the best fighters in the world and we just hope that he’s got enough in the tank to go on and become a two-time world champion.”
Concluding the subject of weight, Hearn surmised, “There’s big fights in every division but really he should focus on the division that he’s comfortable in.”
Hearn finished by revealing the other fights he’s looking forward to watching on Saturday night, “I love the Terri Harper fight, I also love the Kid Galahad fight. He lost to, I believe, the best featherweight in the world in Josh Warrington and, ultimately, he’s got to ty and get another shot at the title, but he’s got very tough task ahead of him against Marrerra.”
Watch the interview in full here:
Kid Galahad (26-1, 15 KOs) takes on Claudio Marrero (24-3, 17 KOs) in a Final Eliminator for the IBF Featherweight crown, Eva Walhstrom and Terri Harper battle in a unification fight, Anthony Tomlinson (11-0, 6 KOs) takes on Stewart Burt (13-1-1, 1 KO) in an Eliminator for the British and Commonwealth Welterweight titles, Dave Allen (17-5-2, 14 KOs) makes his long-awaited return after eight months out of the ring, Brentwood Super-Featherweight Martin Joseph Ward (23-1-2, 11 KOs) and Sheffield Super-Featherweight prospect Donte Dixon (2-0, 1 KO) return, Super-Middleweight John Docherty (7-0, 5 KO) continues his march towards a first title and Sheffield Light-Heavyweight Callum Beardow (1-0) fights for the second time as a pro.
HÖRFA are proud sponsors of British Boxing News