Brook vs. Spence: Worth the Weight?

Boxingnews24.com

By Rob Blakeman: Kell Brook and Errol Spence may turn out to be a bad one for Brook when the two of them meet on May 27 at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, England. Brook, 30, is moving back down by approximately 20 pounds from his previous fight with Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. Even the great Roy Jones Jr. was unable to capture his excellent best when he did this and indeed, has never looked anywhere near his best since.

True, Roy Jones Jr. was older than Brook when he did this but infinitely more talented and yet it meant nothing. Losing lean mass is very, very hard on the body systemically. It lowers the immune, diminishes recovery ability and reduces the capability to take punishment. True, this disadvantage for Brook may be offset by his home advantage but I don’t think so. Spence looks like the consummate professional and I believe his performance will be unhampered in the face of a vitriolic, partisan crowd in the same way Julius Indongo’s was in yesterday’s World title fight with Ricky Burns in Glasgow Scotland.

I hope I’m wrong but I think not. I like Brook, a tough kid with obvious intestinal fortitude but a little too brave for his own good with an even braver promoter in the ubiquitous Eddie Hearn who appears to be matching him purely with money in mind. Brook has a few things going for him but being smart isn’t one of them. He is about to experience something he never has before in boxing in two very different weight classes in less than 12 months. Worse still, he chooses the classy Spence to be in the opposite corner when he does so.

A fighter struggles enough to ‘grow’ into a new higher weight even when going up just one division, indeed it usually takes around a year to do so. (The great Nigel Benn amongst others are on record as stating this as fact) Set that against going up and down in weight from one fight to another and it’s a formula for disaster.

Brook has no idea how he will feel on fight night no matter how correctly he has shed the weight with the help of top nutritionists, etc. My guess is as the fight progresses he will feel himself sapped of energy has never before. The loss of lean tissue will drain his system and against an upcoming, fresh, slick fighter like Spence it’s a bad position to be in. Good luck Kell!