Brook vs Spence Jr: Welterweight Glory

British IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook will face off against the young and favored American challenger Errol Spence Jr.  Saturday night in Sheffield, England in what appears to be a match-up between an ascendant star and a highly doubted champ. Brook, albeit coming off an impressive performance against middleweight superstar Gennady Golovkin, is viewed by many as having already maxed out his potential and has only held onto his welterweight crown by dodging some of his more illustrious colleagues in the division. Errol Spence Jr, on the other hand, is widely considered to be the greater talent. He made it to the quarterfinals in the London Olympics and at 27, while not especially young, is clearly faster and appears to pack more of a punch than the 31 year old Brook. It’s a testament to the continued depth of the welterweight division that we have a highly anticipated championship bout Saturday night and it doesn’t include anyone by the name of Thurman, Porter, Pacquiao, or Garcia.  

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Form: Brook

Brook’s 6 round sparring session with Frankie Gavin was a lackadaisical (as far as boxing can go) title defense in which Brook coasted and Gavin never had a prayer. There isn’t much to say about this fight. Brook dominated from the outset and by the 4th round Gavin had completely clammed up. Brook eventually decided to end things in the 6th round, perhaps out of anger, after taking a clean right. He charged in firing shot after shot against the mostly defenseless contender forcing the referee to call the bout.

The British champion’s next fight against another mandatory IBF scrub was even less of a challenge. It was more fun to watch, admittedly, but Kevin Bizier was sent packing about a minute and a half into the second round. On a positive note for Brook, however, I liked the way he made a point to go after the wounded animal this time. His ambivalence in doing so against Frankie Gavin bothered me. If he manages to hurt Spence Jr. the last thing he should do is not finish the deal. Ironically though,after being thrown two wholly questionable fighters from the IBF mandatory rules, he’s somehow been cornered by the best welterweight without a belt by the same process.

Brook’s short but action packed fight with GGG was inexplicable to me in a few ways. Firstly, why in the world did he choose to fight GGG? Perhaps it was because the other star welterweights were either occupied or unwilling to fight at the time? I don’t blame him for avoiding another can, that’s for sure, but to move up two weight classes to fight the terrifying GGG? The other, somewhat less inexplicable thing about this fight, was the way Brook’s corner threw in the towel in the fifth round. Yes, we now know that Brook had his right orbital bone fractured but he was in that fight. I think he won both the 2nd and 4th rounds and was giving GGG more trouble than he had faced before. There was something potentially great brewing in the ring that night and I must confess I was sorely disappointed to see Brook’s corner throw in the towel, career preserving motivations or not.

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Form: Spence Jr.

Alejandro Barrera gave Errol Spence Jr. the most trouble in his past three fights with his reach and willingness to trade punches. The first round of this bout is the only round I have Errol losing in nearly two years. That being said, the trouble didn’t last long. By round two Spence had shaken off his hometown nerves and by round 3 he had adjusted to Barrera’s reach. He finished Barrera off in the 5th round with a series of hard body shots that made Barrera quit on his feet and he hasn’t returned to the ring since.

Spence Jr’s dominating performance against Chris Algieri may be his most impressive fight so far. Algieri is a world class fighter, former champion, and before his loss to Spence Jr. had only fallen to Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan. Spence Jr. didn’t appear to struggle in the slightest, even with Algieri putting up a bit of a fight in the 3rd round. By round 5 Spence was coasting and after the third knockdown the referee ended the fight. Algieri was beaten up and Spence was coming on like a wrecking ball.

The American’s latest fight was a 6 round IBF mandatory challenger house-keeping affair against the once beaten veteran Leonard Burdu. Spence controlled the bout from the first bell with his jab and distance control and ramped up his offensive output each round. By the 5th round Burdu had slowed considerably outside of a few sporadic power punching outputs. Spence finished the fight with a short right hook that capitalized on a weakened chin and legs previously damaged by a snappy left uppercut just moments before. Burdu was laid out cold in a grim showcase of the former Olympian’s quick power.

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Brook vs Spence Jr.

There is a lot to look forward to here. A number of boxing fans think this fight is going to be Errol Spence Jr’s big splash. It’s hard to disagree with that sentiment but I think there is a fog of underestimation or a pair community wide rosy-colored glasses clouding perspective on Kell Brook. The champ has quick power, a solid defense, and clearly showed in his last fight that he’s more than willing to go to war and he won’t show up unarmed. Spence’s only opponent of note that was willing to do the same was Chris Algieri and his pillow punches are a world different than what Brook is packing for Saturday night.

Prediction

Bombs away.