Kell Brook – Bouncing Back

Kell Brook – Bouncing Back

It’s been confirmed that Kell will fight Errol Spence Jr at the home of his beloved Sheffield United, Bramall Lane, on Saturday 27^th May 2017. It’s time to get your Paddy Power bets on.

After suffering the first defeat in his professional career whilst going up two weight classes to fight the Kazakh destroyer Gennady Golovkin, Kell Brook is out to make a statement in his fight with Spence Jr. While Kell has more experience in big fights, comparison in a few key areas show this fight might be more of a match up than some fans expect:

 

 Brook Vs Spence Jr

Kell Brook	Errol Spence Jr
Total Fights: 37	Total Fights: 21
Wins: 36	Wins: 21
Wins by KO: 25	Wins by KO: 18
Losses: 1	Losses: 0
KO Percentage: 68%	KO Percentage:86%

 

If you closely study both fighters’ records it throws up some interesting questions. With Kell bouncing back from defeat you would imagine he will be more fired up than ever but it might be tougher than he initially thought.

On first glance it’s easy to see that Errol Spence Jr boats a far superior knockout percentage, with just 14% of his 21 fights going the distance against Kell’s 32% but Kell has been in the ring with many more established fighters. Arguably the biggest fight Spence Jr has been involved in was where he fought Chris Algieri who had already been beaten by Amir Khan and Manny Pacquiao. Kell on the other hand has fought more fighters at world level such as Jo Jo Dan, Shawn Porter, Frankie Gavin, former WBA champion VyacheslavSenchenko and Gennady Golovkin.

Physically both Kell and Errol are similar with both fighters standing around 5ft 9 with Spence Jr having the greater reach at 72 inches to Brooks 69 inches. They both have impressive physiques with Kell’s trademark rippling muscles being matched against Errol’s leaner and rangier limbs. Kell tends to take the fight to his opponent so the range he gives away against Spence Jr may be a crucial factor in the fight. If Spence Jr is able to keep Kell at range with his jab and not allow him to come inside, he could well have some success.

With the fight scheduled to take place in Kell’s home town of Sheffield at the home of his boyhood football team, Sheffield United and Bramall Lane, the overwhelming majority of the support will be with Brook. Spence Jr has not fought outside of the US in his career and even though he might seem confident in his own abilities a raucous crowd in support of his opponent might be a tough hurdle to overcome.

This is likely to be more of a fight that many are giving it credit for, Kell Brook has been brave in choosing an undefeated up-and-comer for his bounce back fight after the defeat to Golovkin and if he manages to overcome Spence Jr he will probably go on to a British mega-fight against Amir Khan. Spence is surprisingly considered the slight favourite for this contest so should he get though it unscathed he may well have some mega fights offered to him.