Jarrett Hurd continues to call for a fight with Kell Brook

Junior middleweight titleholder Jarrett Hurd, who now holds the WBA and IBF belts, is targeting a fight with Kell Brook before the year is out. Hurd says he’s seen interviews of Brook downplaying his ability and now wants to square off with him in the ring, telling Sky Sports:

“Not only does he say he would fight me if there was one belt on the line because I am no good, well I’ve got three belts. If he wants to show he is up for the challenge, I’ve got the opportunity for him.”

[Editor’s Note: The third belt is the IBO title, which isn’t recognized by the other sanctioning bodies as a major world title].

Hurd says that beating Kell Brook would help to raise his profile en-route to unifying with Jermell Charlo who holds the WBC world title.

“I’ve got my size advantage and just me, who I am… the No1 unified champion. Anything I can do in the ring I capitalise on, I can walk Kell down, it doesn’t matter, nothing he can do can neutralise anything I’ve got.”

Kell Brook is most recently coming off a dominant win over Sergey Rabchenko this past March but questions linger about how he’ll fare against the top of division who will present much stiffer challenges — particularly with Brook coming off a couple of serious injuries in recent fights.

Jarrett Hurd would seemingly present a serious stylistic challenge for Brook, especially with his size and stamina, should Brook not be able to keep Hurd off of him for 12 rounds, or be able to put a dent in his chin. We’ve already seen Hurd wear down one of the best technicians in the sport in Erislandy Lara, where Lara couldn’t keep away for the duration, and Brook would be facing the same scenario.