Kell Brook wants Miguel Cotto next

By Scott Gilfoid: Kell Brook has had rotten luck lately in losing his last 2 fights to Errol Spence and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, but now he’s hoping to get a contest against Miguel Cotto if he doesn’t retire after his August 26 fight. Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn reportedly wants to match him against the 36-year-old Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) in December in a mega-fight.

Cotto will be fighting Yoshihiro Kamegai (27-3-2, 24 KOs) for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title on August 26 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

In addition to wanting a fight against Cotto, Brook also wants to fight Gennady Golovkin again, and he also would like to fight Saul Canelo Alvarez. With Brook’s back to back knockout losses in his last 2 fights, his chances of getting any of those fighters would seem to be slim to none. Golovkin and Canelo would be raked over the coals if they fought Brook at this point in his career. It wouldn’t even be a fair fight to be honest.

Brook has lost his last 2 fights by knockout against Errol Spence Jr. and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. What was surprising is Brook suffered bad eye injuries involving different eyes in those defeats. Brook had surgery performed on both eyes. He’s now recovering from the surgery on his left eye from the Spence fight. Brook still hasn’t resumed training since his recent surgery. There are dark clouds that are circling Brook right now, as his career would seem to be in bad shape with the injuries and the consecutive stoppage defeats. Brook plans on moving up to 154 to try and campaign in that weight class.

It seems like a dumb idea, given that his body is falling apart just trying to deal with welterweights. What’s going to happen when he starts getting nailed by powerful junior middleweight fighters? I see nothing good coming from Brook moving to 154.

Cotto can probably make more money fighting a rematch with Saul Canelo Alvarez or facing Gennady “GGG” Golovkin than he would take on the often injured Brook.

“I like the ones where not many people give me a chance, ones that excite and ignite the fans, so of course, Cotto, (Saul) Alvarez and even (Gennady) Golovkin again are all ones I’d like to jump in with,” said Brook to skysports.com.

Well, Brook wants Cotto, Canelo and GGG, but the question is do they want him? I’m guessing that Brook is not high on the list of any of those fighters for late 2017. Canelo and Triple G are fighting each other on September 16. There’s a very good chance that they’ll fight each other in December for a rematch if their September fight is competitive. It’s up to Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions. They’re he A-side, and they have the option of picking and choosing whether to fight Golovkin a second time. There’s more money in a second fight between Canelo and Golovkin than if either of those guys would take on Brook, who is looking pretty tarnished given his last 2 defeats.

There are some boxing fans who believe that Brook quit against Errol Spence Jr. in their fight on May 27. Brook took a knee twice in the fight in the 10th and 11th. Brook didn’t get up off his knee in the 11th and was counted out. Granted, Brook had an eye injury that was giving him problems at the time he quit against Spence, but it still looked bad that he chose to quit. Brook didn’t quit in his 5th round knockout loss to Golovkin last September, but he stopped throwing punches and that caused his trainer Dominic Ingle to throw in the towel. Generally, when a fighter stops throwing punches, it’s a sign that they’ve quit. As such, you can argue that Brook quit against Golovkin too. I’m just saying.

“If I was him I’d want to fight someone like me because our styles would gel and it would be a fantastic fight for the fans,” said Brook about Cotto. ”That is the way I’d go and that’s the fight I’d want. But of course, I don’t speak on behalf of Miguel Cotto.”

Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Cotto does take the fight with Brook. I mean, look at the guy that Cotto is fighting on August 26. He’s fighting a fringe contender for the vacant WBO 154lb title, which he’s done zero to deserve to be fighting for that belt. Cotto hasn’t fought in 2 years since his loss to Canelo in 2015 The World Boxing Organization has Cotto rated No.1 with their organization. I’m not quite sure what the logic is in ranking a fighter at No.1 when they’re coming off of a loss and a 2-year layoff. To me, that just seems more like Cotto has received the ranking based on his popularity rather than on what he’s achieved in the last 2 years. Come on, when a fighter hasn’t fought in 2 years and they’ve lost their last fight, do they deserve to be ranked No.1? In only boxing, I guess.

Before Cotto scheduled the fight against Kamegai, he was scheduled to fight James Kirkland on HBO PPV. Kirkland hadn’t fought in well over a year since his loss to Canelo. A fight between them would have made no sense at all. I could see Cotto taking a fight against Brook if the money is right. It would likely be televised on Sky Box Office PPV in the UK. It would probably be shown on regular HBO Championship Boxing in the U.S. Cotto-Kamegai is being televised on HBO in the States. I don’t know if Cotto vs. Brook would bring in good ratings though. Brook isn’t well known in the U.S. with the casual boxing fans, and the fans that do know of him, they remember his losses to Spence and Golovkin.

Why would those fans want to tune in to see Cotto fight a guy coming off of two defeats in a row? Cotto-Brook might be the equivalent of spraying bug repellent onto the U.S boxing fan base. I think it would be a terrible fight to show on HBO in the States. If Brook can turn his career around and win some good fights against top notch opposition, then that would be another thing. I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

Ideally, Brook needs to get back in the ring and get a couple of tune-ups under his belt so that he can show the boxing public that he can win a fight without suffering additional eye injuries. Right now, Brook’s eyes seem to be fragile. The problem with Brook taking a tune-up fight or two is he doesn’t have time to do that. Cotto is likely going to retire at the end of this year or in early 2018. Cotto isn’t going to wait around while Brook takes risky tune-up fights for the remainder of 2017. It’s still unknown whether Brook’s recently surgically repaired left eye will hold together for him to begin training.

The British public would likely be willing to purchase a fight between Brook and Cotto. I don’t think it would be a good fight for Brook or the boxing fans. Brook needs someone that he’s capable of beating. Cotto is way too strong for him, even though the Puerto Rican fighter isn’t the same guy he once was. Brook should instead try and lure Amir Khan into fighting him. Those two are in the same boat as far as being near the ends of their careers or at least near the end of being viewed as relevant fighters.

Brook moving up to 154 is a dead end for him. There aren’t any big names in that weight class besides Cotto. If Brook fights the talented fighters at 154, he’ll likely lose and lose badly. I’m talking about guys like Erickson Lubin, Demetrius Andrade, Erislandy Lara, Jarrett Hurd and Jermell Charlo. Those guys are like middleweights. Brook wouldn’t do well against them, especially with him having eye problems. There’s no money in Brook fighting them. There’s plenty of risk though. I hate to say it, but the 154lb division is a dead end for Brook. The only thing good about Brook being at 154 is he’s close enough to 160 to possibly get one of the big names from that division to fight him. But the top names like Canelo, and Golovkin sure as heck aren’t going to fight Brook now with him falling apart physically with eye injuries. Brook could probably get someone like David Lemieux, Danny Jacobs or Jermall Charlo to fight him. That would be a disaster for Brook to fight any of those guys in my view.