Kell Brook confronts Errol Spence in Vegas

BoxingNews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid

Kell Brook got in Errol Spence’s face last Saturday night in Las Vegas and called him out for a rematch in Sheffield, England. Brook (37-2, 26 KOs) wants the unbeaten Spence (23-0, 20 KOs) to give him a rematch in Sheffield even though he lost to the talented American last year by an 11th round knockout on May 27 at Bramall Lane.

Spence asked Brook why he would need to come back to Sheffield when he won the last fight, and that he’s the A-side now. Brook didn’t have any answers to the question by Spence. While arguing with Spence, Brook reminded him that he was getting the better of the action before he suffered an eye injury in the 6th round. Spence ignored that comment and told him once again that he won the last fight between them, so he should be the A-side.

Here’s the Spence vs. Brook argument caught by Fighthub:

Brook: “We can do it. We don’t need a belt. Why do we need a belt? Me and you was a great fight. Belts gather dust. We don’t need a belt.”

Spence: “You want to come back to Sheffield?”

Brook: “Yes, come back to Sheffield.”

Spence: “You going to bring big money? Okay, I’ll come back. Hook me up.”

Brook: “He wants to come back to Sheffield.”

Spence: “We got to talk about it. If it’s not offering more money, then come to Dallas. If you win a title at 154, then I’ll come to Sheffield. I’m undefeated. I’m the A-side. If you win a title at 154, I’ll step on you at 154.”

Brook: “Why do we need a title? We don’t need a belt. Belts gather dust”

Spence: “Why would I come to Sheffield?”

Brook took a knee twice to get out of his fight with Spence in 2017. It looked bad the way Brook quit in that fight, because he didn’t go out on his shield the way a true warrior would. A lot of boxing fans jumped all over Brook’s case for the way he quit. This was the second time Brook had quit in a fight. Brook quit in his previous fight against Gennady Golovkin in 2016 when he stopped throwing punches in the 5h. Brook’s trainer Dominic Ingle had little choice but to pull the plug on the fight in the 5th when he saw that his fighter had stopped throwing punches and was getting nailed with shots against the ropes. It looked like Brook was one of those revolving ducks in a shooting gallery with Golovkin just nailing him with shot after shot, while missing occasionally. You would think with the way Brook bowed out on one knee against Spence, that he would want nothing to do with him again. As the saying goes, ‘Once a quitter always a quitter.’

Brook needs to come back down to earth. He lost to Spence, period. Brook needs to rebuild his career still before he can start calling out the champions like Spence, because he’s done nothing to rate a rematch with him. If Brook listens to what Spence is telling him and wins a world title a 154, he’ll get the rematch, but not until then. Brook should know that the rematch between him and Spence will bring in a lot more money if he wins one of the titles at junior middleweight first. Even if Brook beats paper champion Sadam Ali for his WBO 154lb. title, it would still be a belt that would make for a bigger fight between him and Spence.

At this point, Brook is going to need to come to Dallas, Texas if he wants a rematch with Spence. Al Haymon, the adviser for Spence, isn’t likely going to agree to let his fighter go to Sheffield once again now that he’s a world champion. The only reason Spence went to the UK to fight Brook last year is because he was the challenger at the time. The ropes have been flipped. Brook is now a mere contender, and Spence is the champion. If Brook wants to fight Spence in Sheffield, then he’s going to need to do massive things at junior middleweight by winning a world title, so he can try and lure him to the UK.

If there is going to be a rematch between Brook and Spence, it’s not going to take place until 2019 at the earliest.

Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing is going to be putting him in a tune-up fight this summer at 154. If Brook wins that fight, he’ll face Amir Khan in November or December in a fight on Sky Box Office in the UK. Khan must win his April 21st fight against Phil Lo Greco, which he’ll likely do without any problems. There’s no chance at all that Hearn is going to put Brook back inside the ring with Spence before he makes the Khan-Brook fight this year. There’s too much money on the line for that fight, and Hearn has been looking forward to making that fight for years.

Brook’s whole attitude has changed overnight since his 2nd round knockout win over Sergey Rabchenko on March 3 in Sheffield. Before that fight, Brook looked almost depressed in trying to come back from his crushing 11th knockout loss to Spence. That was Brook’s second straight defeat. Before that fight, Brook had lost to IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG” Golovkin by a 5th round knockout out September 10, 2016.

Brook suffered an eye injury in the Golovkin fight like the one that he suffered eight months later against Spence. Losing those two fights took a lot of air out of Brook’s career. Oddly enough, it’s only taken Brook one win over the fringe contender Rabchenko for him to start getting cocky once again. It might be better for Brook to wait until he beats a good fighter for him to start calling out talented fighters like Spence and Jermell Charlo. Those guys are at a different level than Brook right now.

Spence fights on June 16 in Dallas against his IBF mandatory challenger Carlos Ocampo. Hearn still hasn’t scheduled Brook with an opponent, date or venue for his fight this summer in the UK.