Kell Brook signs up for WBC’s VADA Clean Boxing Program

By Scott Gilfoid: After being removed from the World Boxing Council’s top 15 rankings last week, former IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook has officially signed up for the WBC’s VADA Clean Boxing Program, and will soon be reinstated in the sanctioning bodies’ rankings.

The question that some people would like to know is why Brook didn’t enroll in the WBC’s Clean Boxing Program right away instead of waiting for him to be removed by their rankings before making the move to enroll with them. Brook should have done it right off the bat instead of waiting for him to get removed by them. It was bad press for Brook to be removed from the WBC’s rankings, even though he doesn’t appear to be interested in working his way to a title shot against WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo as the mandatory for that belt. Some boxing fans are going to suspect the worst in why Brook waited before signing up with the WBC’s Clean drug program. Did Brook delay signing up with the WBC’s program due to the fees involved? It would be interesting to know.

What this means in the big scheme of things for the 32-year-old Brook 37-2, 26 KOs) is unclear, as he presently is attempting to become the WBO mandatory challenger to WBO 154lb champion Jaime Munguia. #6 WBO Brook is facing #4 Brandon Cook (20-1, 13 KOs) in a WBO junior middleweight title eliminator bout this month on July 28 at the O2 Arena in London, England. If Brook can get his hands on the World Boxing Organization title by beating Munguia, then he doesn’t need to be ranked by the WBC, because he’ll be a champion and will be able to face WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo in a unification fight. However, beating the 21-year-old Munguia may prove to very difficult for Brook, as he’s not a small fighter at 5’9”, and he would be giving away a lot of size and punching power to the 5’11” Munguia.

Some boxing fans feel that Munguia is a bigger puncher than middleweight champion Gennady Goovkin, who stopped Brook in the 5th round in their fight two years ago in September 2016. It stands to reason that if Brook couldn’t handle the punching power of Golovkin and welterweight Errol Spence Jr., then he certainly won’t be able to deal with the punching power of Munguia. Brook should have no problems beating the brakes off the little known 32-year-old Cook on July 28, but it’s going to be a different story when he gets inside the ring with Munguia, who can punch like no tomorrow. With the power that Munguia has going for him, he could destroy Brook and mess things up for him. If Brook gets knocked out by MUnguia, then he’s going to be forced to rethink his idea of fighting at 154. Brook would have to go on a strict diet to try and melt back down to 147 so he can salvage his pro career. It would be pointless for Brook to stay at 154 if he can’t beat the likes of Munguia.