Brook on the brink - Glenn McCrory

I go through airports most weeks, traveling to different fights and press conferences, and people always ask me where I am going and what I am up to. But when I am going to a big fight, they know. Straight away they ask me, who will win? What will happen? That's when I know it's a big fight: when everyone is talking about it.

And that's where Kell Brook needs to be, taking on the best opponents on the biggest stages where he has to put on a show every time he fights. That is the difference between being a good boxer and being a national superstar, the difference between being a name in British boxing and being a name in households around Britain. Brook is in line for all of that and has the chance to become a Hamed, Hatton or Eubank.


He is only a couple of fights away from challenging the top fighters in the fiercest division in boxing, where I believe he belongs, up at the Amir Khan level. First up, though, is Carson Jones this weekend.

The American has been making a lot of noise since arriving for the fight in Sheffield. He is clearly upset. He feels it has been the Kell Brook show so far, which it has. He is obviously clearly riled by this and will undoubtedly come out firing and ready to take risks, which will make for an exciting fight and could help the Brit. But Kell can't afford to be overconfident.

Brook must not forget that this is a guy who is trying to take his head off and steal all his glory. This is another step up in opponent for him - an opponent that believes he can win and comes with credentials. It's a massive chance for Jones to put himself in the frame and gate-crashing the welterweight scene - the most exciting in world boxing.

The crazy thing is that we haven't seen any weaknesses yet.Glenn McCrory
How to remote recordThe opening rounds will be crucial. Brook has to tread the line between retaining his composure and concentration with a tight defence but not being overly patient. He will have to be aggressive, that's a given, but he's got to be careful as well. I would like to see a little more devil and spite from him early on, especially using his jab.

Brook must let Jones know straight away that he is the away fighter because Jones is the kind of fighter that could make this a really bad night for the Brit. Brook must be at his very best. He is now moving up into a new league now, into the big picture where people are starting to take notice. It is really important to make this his show and a great occasion and take it back to the Hamed, Eubank and Hatton days, when we had somebody who was going to get the whole country behind them.

Some fighters love being at home, while for others it just means pressure. He is quite a shy kid but he likes it now, he likes having his fans, having Sheffield, behind him. He is a very personable kid and he is enjoying that limelight.

The crazy thing is that we haven't seen any weaknesses yet. He has been well managed, as you would expect, but he has gone this far through his career and we don't even know what his weaknesses are. Matthew Hatton was his best opponent and yet it was pretty easy going for Brook. Hatton hardly asked him any questions - there was one significant punch when Brook was more embarrassed and surprise than anything else. In what should have been a stern test, he glided through. So Kell Brook can be as good as he wants to be, and that could be very good indeed.

He needs to get through this fight and then they need to pick a top five fighter and go in and beat them well. There are only one or two fights of this standard left and then every fight will be life or death. After this fight and one more he will be at the Amir Khan level, every fight. I think he can reach that level and go beyond. There are not many fighters that get to where Brook has and not been gone out of second gear. So far he has been on auto-pilot and I want to see him in top gear.

So there is a lot for Kell to lose and he is under a lot of pressure but I think he is the kind of kid that will thrive on that. I am really excited about the future of Kell Brook.

This Carson Jones is no better than Michael Jennings, Lovemore Ndou or Matthew Hatton. It's hardly a step up

alma wrote:Yawn. I'm bored of Kell brook. No personality and never fought anyone. He'll never be a star as boxing simply isn't that big anymore. Even froch is barely known to the average person. Id wager more people know Tyson fury than Kell brook.

no bookies would take that bet, 100% of people would know fury over brook.
he's a slick fighter with good skills, but his record is a joke for so many fights and he doesnt have the power required to be at the top.

There's a lot of judgement of Brook so far, a lot of criticism, some justified and some not. For me the potential is there for sure, he looks the business and since joining Matchroom I'm not really sure I can fault him. His level of opponent is ever increasing and on a good curve and he remains confident without being overly so.

Should he win he'll need to step up again and I'm sure he will. Personally I think he can mix it with the best out there and am very glad he's as active now as he is.

I'm pretty sure sky came out and said that brook-Hatton got the most views ever for one of their shows not on PPV. Given the relatively low level of opposition and the fact Hatton isn't much of a name too that's pretty decent

He has sold out pretty big arenas in Sheffield and isn't even at world level. He has the potential to be a Hatton etc although I do think that he lacks a bit f personality

WHU_Champo_League_in_7Yrs wrote:I'm pretty sure sky came out and said that brook-Hatton got the most views ever for one of their shows not on PPV. Given the relatively low level of opposition and the fact Hatton isn't much of a name too that's pretty decent

He has sold out pretty big arenas in Sheffield and isn't even at world level. He has the potential to be a Hatton etc although I do think that he lacks a bit f personality

Don't be daft, most people tuned in thinking A/ it was actually Ricky that was fighting, B/ Matthew would turn out to be just like Ricky or C/ They might catch a glimpse of Ricky on the the telly. The Hatton name still resonates with a lot of people....too bas Sky haven't got the decency to put people straight re Matthew's actual abilities.

As for Brook, no doubt a win for him will once again be a launch pad for Adam Smith to wax irritating about Kell's "obvious World Class" (this despite him never having fought anyone withing sniffing distance of World Class, but when has that stopped Smith?)

I predict it will also be a launch pad for Eddie Hearn to talk about how Brook is "world class but also, paradoxically "a work in progress" which I believe is Hearn-speak for "Kell has the personality of stale popcorn. We've tried touting him as a new Naseem hamed but that hasn't really worked...people didn't really like the old Naseem Hamed. Carl Froch is doing great and people STILL don't really know who he is so we haven't a hope in hell of pushing Kell to the forefront of public consciouness. We'll see you in September when Kell faces of against a guy who once fought a guy who lost to a guy Floyd Mayweather rejected as a possible opponent."

Eddies already made comments to those effect this week Dave. Came out and said Kells a work in progress and there's no rush as he's only 26.

Personally would much prefer them to rush him into an interim belt and him learn how to fight as a world champion. You only have to see the warmth and respect Cleverly generates on here to see the benefits of such an approach.

hampo171 wrote:Eddies already made comments to those effect this week Dave. Came out and said Kells a work in progress and there's no rush as he's only 26.

I know, that's why I wrote it. I fully intend for Eddie to reiterate this on Saturday which, to my mind is Eddie (quite smartly) getting in first so he has a built-in excuse if he fails to secure Brook a meaningful fight next time round. If he DOES manage to get Brook a decent fight, Eddie looks like "the man Mick Hennessey wishes he could be" He's a canny operator and has clearly learned a great deal from his old man.

I don't mind Eddie Hearn though. He genuinely seems to want to get his fighters good competitive match-up's/paydays and, more importantly, I find him relatively likeable.

The danger with his handling of Brook is that, like Warren did with Hatton, he has him filling out arenas whilst fighting absolute nobodies for a belt that isn't worth it's weight in Marshmallows. There's all kinds of talk about pushing Brook towards being a mandatory for a World Strap but Warren pimped Hatton out for years on that promise.

If Hearn delivers then fair play to him, but unlike Froch, Brook doesn't have those World credentials which make him an easier sell to the World Champions.

Credit to Eddie. We don't want another works in progress girt wrapped a world world title and fighting has beens and claiming to be legit.

If Kell is a work in progress then he shouldn't be fighting for a belt. But then again he beat the guy who fought another works in progress champ at his most comfortable weight.

Benitez was 17 Alma, does that mean Khan and Ortiz took too long? For any number of reasons people reach their potential at different ages, 26 is hardly at deaths door.

As for being too nice in the ring against Hatton. That's nonsense. He simply wasn't good enough to get the KO and now he's feeding off Watt's words about adding more spite.

And this Chump has been shouting that he KNOWS that Khan is scared of him. What a pillock of the highest order.

I remember his fight with Jennings. That put me to sleep. Boring gasseous emmisions.

Like you say Alma we yorkshire folk have to stick together. However I do wonder what we want of fighters on occasion. We bemoan fighters getting titles they do not deserve and then fighting tomato cans once they have a title but when Brook works his way up the rankings to earn a shot at a proper title we slate him just as bad, damned if you do, damned if you don't it would appear.

From what I can understand Brook has took his time as he had issues with Warren and did not exactly lead the right lifestyle outside the ring, he is now free of those issues hopefully and has now improved his opposition, got a lot more active and built up a solid fan base, as long as there is a world title in the next six months I personally do not care too much what he has done before because if it is a choice of waiting a little while or going down the Cleverly route I can be patient.

Hearn has said he's following this route for Brook to get him into a mandatory slot rather than taking a big purse cut and signing up to rematch clauses. Once he's a mandatory challenger for a title, he's then got a lot more to bring to the table.

Not too sure how much faith I can put in that, given that Kell has been #1 ranked by the WBO for some time.

All for taking a little slow, to avoid the Cleverly situation, however if he doesn't make World level in 30 fights that's probably pushing it too far.

He's going into his 28th fight now and there are enough fringe world level fighters in his division to have a fruitful couple of years.

His next two fights could be Bailey and Malinaggi and he could easily be IBF and WBA World champ.

If he continues to pad however I think his name will deteriorate rapidly.

He needs a good exciting win over Jones and then try get on an American card.

Do you think Bailey (being one of the lower-profile world champs) would come to the UK?

'only 26' is actually getting on a bit to be only just being introduced to the fringes of world scene for someone as hyped as he is.

as mentioned above, fighters who are as good as brook was expected to be are already world champions by 26, never mind fighting decent level opposition which brook hasnt yet.

Nicely done.

Bailey's fighting Alexander for the title

Malignaggi in America would be a logical opponent imo. Malignaggi is a name and has only been beat by the best and is now a world champion. He isn't afraid of anyone too so wont look for an easy defence. I also think he wants Alexander (past twitter war of words) so malignaggi-Brook winner should fight the winner of the bailey fight for a big unification fight in america.

Brook is two fights away from glory. But he'll have to fight a genuine world-class fighter to get hold of a belt. Can he do it? Hmm... yes he can.

I think Brook has to be careful and have some contingency plans in place for future opponents. The impression was under was that this fight against Carson Jones was an eliminator for the world title.

But it looks like Alexander will face Bailey first and most likely win, and after that I dont think Alexander will be in any rush to face his mandatory. These things can drag on for years. And if, for instance, Alexander and Mailignaggi look to unify which is a very possible match up that both would want then Brook could be left hanging around for quite some time. Is he going to continue to barely dip his toes onto world level?

He needs to start targetting wins that put him on the map and make him an attractive opponent for the bigger names.

It seems eddie is hoping for a hatton style cash cow. You can see the logic... it has plenty of precedents... make everyone as much money as possible while the public are gullible enough to buy it, before taking any risks. Problem as i see it, is he doesn't have and won't get anything like the fan base and monetary pulling power to do this and get his 'Tzsyu' over here in a few years. So if Brook wants a title, he'll most likely have to go to the states for it. He's an apparently shy home boy, who's fought just once abroad against a clubfighter.

They need to get him some stateside exposure on a big bill over the pond, with a respectable opponent he will beat. Then, they'll be at the table. The longer they stay at home fighting no marks, the more they delay this. He may 'only' be 26 now but that world title shot doesn't look imminent.

Fair point jeff re fighters peaking at different ages... can be biologically driven and/or skill/experience driven, usually a combination... but it works both ways - Brooke could have peaked already. In reality, he still has plenty of time, but he needs to start making good use of it.