Kell Brook rated #3 in WBC’s new 154lb rankings

Boxingnews24.com

By Tim Royner

Kell ‘Terminator’ Brook has been pushed to the No.3 spot in the World Boxing Council’s new ratings for March at 154. The ranking places Brook within sight of WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo 30-0, 15 KOs), who has already offered him a title shot in his next fight on June 9th.

Brook (37-2, 26 KOs) doesn’t plan on taking Charlo up on his offer, as he wants another fight at 154 to help him get used to the division before he starts looking to face the champions in the weight class. Brook, 31, destroyed Sergey Rabchenko (29-3, 22 KOs) by a 2nd round knockout last weekend in his first fight at junior middleweight on March 3 at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, UK. Charlo and Errol Spence Jr. both showed interest in facing Brook following the victory.

”If Kell Brook gets a world title, I’ll fight him at 154,” Spence said.

Brook then responded with this message:

”I’ll take you up on that offer.”

Brook is not expected to fight for a world title at 154 until next year. He’s going to use 2018 to get a step up in the summer at 154, and then possibly meet Amir Khan at the end of the year in a pay-per-view bout on Sky Box Office in the UK.

The WBC’s new rankings at 154 are as follows:

1. Vanes Martirosyan

2. Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams

3. Kell Brook

4. Sergio Garcia

5. Maciej Sulecki

6. Charles Hatley

7. Erickson Lubin

8. Jamie Munguia

9. Austin Trout

10. Liam Smith

11. Jack Culcay

12. Nathaniel Gallimore

13. Tony Harrison
14. Zakaria Attou

15. Orlando Fiordigiglio

Brook won’t need to be rated by the other sanctioning bodies for him to get a title shot. The 154 lb. champions will likely jump at the chance to defend their titles against the popular Brook. It likely won’t be Charlo that Brook eventually challenges for a title. It’s expected that Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn will have him fight the winner of the Sadam Ali vs. Liam Smith fight for the WBO junior middleweight title. Sadam Ali is the WBO champion right now, but he’s going to be defending it against his #1 challenger next in May. Brook will wait until he faces Khan in November or December before he goes after a world title.

Brook wants a rematch against Spence to get even with him for his 11th round knockout win on May 27 last year. Spence isn’t desperate for a second fight with Brook after winning their previous encounter. That’s why Spence has made it clear to Brook that if he wants a rematch, he’ll need to win a world title at 154 first. The best way for Brook to fulfill that requirement is to fight the Ali vs. Smith winner in 2019. The earlier Brook can win the WBO title the faster he’ll get the Spence rematch.

About Author