TRUTH HURTS
Is Errol Spence the real deal? Should Kell Brook have continued? Crucial questions answered inside
IT was a night of mixed emotions for British boxing at Bramall Lane football stadium. The famous old home of Sheffield United FC played host to two world title fights featuring Brits, as local hero Kell Brook defended his IBF welterweight crown against touted Texan Errol Spence Jnr, and Londoner George Groves contested the vacant WBA supermiddleweight strap against tough Russian Fedor Chudinov. While Groves finally became a world champion in his fourth attempt, Brook was not able to make it double delight for UK fight fans, as a fractured eye socket inflicted by Spence saw the American wrest the IBF belt from Kell’s grasp.
In a courageous crack at claiming world middleweight honours versus the fearsome Gennady Golovkin in September, Brook had suffered a broken orbital bone on his right side during a fifth-round stoppage loss. Lightning struck twice for the luckless Sheffielder, as against Spence he succumbed to severe damage to the same area, but this time on his left side.
After his brief foray into the 160lb division last year, much had been made of the potential adverse effects that moving back down to welter could have on Brook. Spence had question marks hanging over his
HERE, LIGHTNING STRUCK TWICE FOR THE LUCKLESS SHEFFIELDER
head before the clash too. Namely, could he justify the hefty hype that surrounded him, in what was his first true test on the elite stage? Ultimately, both men proved their doubters wrong, as Brook looked as fit and strong as ever at the weight – prior to his eye injury – while Spence demonstrated that he is in fact the real deal.
After making his way through the players’ tunnel, clad in the red and white of Sheffield United FC, a wall of noise hit Brook as he stepped out onto the Bramall Lane turf. His fellow Yorkshiremen bellowed his name heartily from the stands, as “The Special One” bounced from foot to foot and into the ring. It is safe to say Spence had never experienced an atmosphere quite as hostile as this in all of his previous 21 outings. One way or another, we were going to find out “The Truth” about Errol inside the proverbial lion’s den.
It was impossible to separate the pair in the opener, as they swapped fast, accurate jabs. Brook, 31, reached out with a spearing straight right that sunk into Spence’s stomach, but the 27-yearold challenger responded with a body strike of his own – a curving left.
A one-two from Kell hit the target in the second, before Spence was warned for landing a couple of low lefts. A right-leftright combination – finishing on the ribs – rattled into Spence. The southpaw flung out a stiff single jab in retaliation, yet Brook had the final say in the session with a right hook.
‘I PROVED MYSELF. I THINK I AM THE BEST WELTERWEIGHT IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW’
➤ The next two stanzas went the way of Errol, but it was nip-and-tuck stuff. Spence showcased his fleet fists in the third with a swiping left cross and compact right hook. A vaunted attacker to the midsection, Spence plunged in a screwing left to the solar plexus in round four, followed by an uppercut-straight combo upstairs. However, Brook’s knack of tying Errol up in close was helping him to avoid significant punishment.
Having dropped the previous two frames, Kell hit back by taking the fifth and sixth, in which he scored with clean counters. Stringing his shots together well, the Englishman pitched in a leftright, with a firm right uppercut hot on its heels. Nevertheless, Spence’s speed and variety was still evident for all to see.
The boxers were a picture of concentration in the seventh. Not many notable punches were landed in the round – which was a testament to the impressive evasive movement of both men – yet Brook returned to his stool with visible markings by his left eye. Kell backed Spence up on the ropes briefly in the succeeding session, but the Desoto resident’s well-timed assaults with his shooting back hand caused Brook’s welt to worsen. Little did we know at the time, but the wound was to prove the champion’s undoing.
Heading into the ninth, the scores were level on my card – emphasising the fiercely competitive nature of the bout. However, things would soon go downhill for Kell. A jolting jab from Spence sent spray flying into the night air. Buoyed by the sight of Brook’s rapidly deteriorating left optic, Errol unleashed hurtful hooks at a blistering pace to both head and body. At the end of a one-sided three minutes, Brook looked in a bad way – eye grotesquely swollen, nose busted.
Things got worse for Kell in a thrilling
‘NO EXCUSES. KELL WAS BEATEN BY THE BETTER MAN’
10th. After being peppered with a series of shots by the strands, he crumbled to the canvas. Upon rising, he found himself under immense pressure once again, yet, with his hometown crowd of approximately 27,000 defiantly roaring him on, Brook showed true Yorkshire grit to incredibly battle back, despite fighting with almost one eye. Kell was not going to give up his hard-earned title easily, but with Spence intelligently zoning in on the swelling with punishing jabs, it seemed like the end was near for brave Brook.
And so it proved in the 11th. After exchanging punches with Spence, Brook took a step back and begun dabbing at his eye with his glove, clearly in serious discomfort. With Errol eagerly preparing to unload his arsenal once more, Kell disconsolately slumped to one knee. He knew that the game was up. At 1-47, referee Howard Foster reached the count of ‘10’ before Brook rose to his feet, crowning Spence as the new IBF welterweight king.
“I proved myself,” Spence said afterwards. “I proved that I can pull it out when I have to. This was a great experience in my young career – fighting in the champion’s hometown in my first world title fight, in front of thousands of screaming fans. I said I was going to use that [hostility] as motivation, and that’s what I did.
“Brook was strong and fast. He hit me with some good shots, but it was nothing that ever hurt me. A lot of people were saying beforehand, ‘Can Errol Spence take a punch?’ I think I proved a point by taking punches from a big welterweight. Brook is one of the most skilled fighters in the division – one of the biggest and strongest too. So I think I am the best welterweight in the world right now.”
One man who would disagree with that statement is Spence’s countryman, Keith Thurman. The WBC and WBA 147lb titlist is currently sidelined following surgery on his right elbow, but that did not stop Errol from namechecking the
Floridian as a possible opponent. Spence stated: “Thurman’s out for a while, so maybe I could fight at home in Dallas at the American Airlines Center [in the meantime], then fight Thurman at the end of this year or early next year.”
As for the war-torn Brook, a visit to hospital was required after the contest, meaning he was unable to attend the post-fight press conference. Promoter Eddie Hearn stood in for his man, and informed those in attendance that Kell is unlikely to compete at welterweight again. However, he refused to blame the defeat on weight-making difficulties. “There are no excuses,” Hearn accepted. “Kell was beaten by the better man, and that was Errol Spence.”
In stark contrast to Brook’s night of pain and disappointment, an elated and deeply relieved George Groves will look back on May 27 as the date he got his hands on a world championship at last, and removed the weight of his three previous failures from his broad shoulders.
Within the first minute of his defining duel with former WBA title-holder
Fedor Chudinov, Groves’ fantastic jab had already begun to redden Fedor’s features. However, like Robocop stolidly striding through incoming bullets, the ridiculously robust Chudinov seemed undeterred by the thumping clouts that were coming his way. A forceful short right hook clumped into Groves, but the Hammersmith man seemed to edge the session on account of his lethal lead hand.
With Chudinov relentlessly marching forward, George had to work hard to keep him off. A left uppercut-straight right slammed into the visitor from Serpukhov, and Groves rattled off a barrage of blows from either hand with his back against the ropes.
Fedor was able to close the distance more effectively in the third, which neutralised Groves’ jab, and led to a gruelling war of attrition on the inside. Both fighters hurled hooks with vicious intent, though George just about got the better of the exchanges.
The cyborg-like Chudinov walked into a pounding pair of rights in the fourth, as well as an uppercut from the same mitt. Groves once again won the round, but an accidental clash of heads left him cut by his left eye. The 29-yearold pumped out his jab in the next frame, presumably looking to protect his laceration. However, in the sixth, he chose to throw caution to the wind and let his hands go freely. It worked. A brutal salvo of shots crashed in on Chudinov, 29. The unanswered multipunch attack consisted of heavy hooks, mainly to the cranium but also with a few mixed in to the abdomen for good measure. When referee Steve Gray stepped in at 1-14, Groves’ destiny was fulfilled. Like British boxing icon Frank Bruno before him, he had reached the promised land of world glory in his fourth title try. Even his old enemy Carl Froch stood up and applauded him at ringside.
“It’s a fantastic feeling – a life’s work achieved,” declared Groves. “Since I was seven years old I’ve wanted to become a world champion. It’s been a long road. I’ve made some mistakes along the way, and made it hard for myself in many ways. But that’s made it feel much sweeter now.
“I’ve put some demons to bed. For so long I was walking around clueless, not knowing why I wasn’t a world champion. That weight has been lifted now. I knew I was good enough to win a world title, but I wasn’t sure if I ever would. Now I need to find some new goals to achieve.”
One of those goals could well be to seize the IBF belt from bitter rival James Degale. Groves followed up an amateur victory over Degale by defeating him in the pros six years ago, and a unification clash between the two warring supermiddle champs would do huge business in the UK. “I’ve beaten him twice already, but I think it’s a fight that everyone would like to see,” Groves remarked. “I always enjoy beating James.”
THE VERDICT
Contrasting emotions for Brook and Groves. It will be interesting to see where they both go from here.