After facing fearsome Golovkin, Brook gets super Spence next
Ingle discusses Brook’s ‘do or die attitude’ with George Gigney
KELL BROOK will defend his IBF welterweight title against Errol Spence Jnr in the UK towards the end of May after terms were agreed this week.
Brook had previously been trying to get a fight with domestic rival Amir Khan, but attention turned to mandatory challenger Spence after talks with the Bolton man broke down.
Monday’s announcement was met with surprise by many observers who felt Brook might swerve unbeaten Spence and look elsewhere but Kell’s trainer, Dominic Ingle, points to his decision to face middleweight terror Gennady Golovkin last year.
“Well there’s the situation with the Khan fight which ended up being a waste of time. People speak about Kell ducking and diving fights, bar the fact he went in with Golovkin. It doesn’t matter who’s in front of him, Kell wants to fight for titles and fight for money,” he told Boxing News. “At the end of the day, Spence is a young guy coming through, he’s 26, Kell is 31, he’s experienced, he’s seen these guys before and he’s very good with southpaws as well.
“So you can talk about Brook not wanting to fight and ducking and diving, people will always say it, people said he’d duck Spence, but a fighter’s always going to fight and they want the biggest purse for the fight. Down to a fight between Khan and Spence, you’d take the Khan fight as it’s the bigger fight, you’re not ducking anybody, it’s just the biggest amount of money.
“You’ve got to have a do or die attitude and he’s got that.”
There are three dates in play for the fight; May 20, May 27 and June 3. It will take place in the UK and Brook’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, is working to have it land at Bramall Lane, home of Sheffield United FC.
“He’s a big welterweight, people say he’ll be drained but we’re talking about the 20th, 27th [May] or 3rd of June. We’re talking 14, 15 weeks to get down to the weight, and Kell’s already been in the gym, so that’s plenty of time. We had nine weeks’ notice for the Golovkin fight and got down to 11st 6lbs, he knows how to do it, it’s just a harder process,” Ingle continued.
“He’s been in the gym on and off, obviously he had time out because of the [surgery] and he had to wait until the end of January before he could start proper training, but he always relishes the challenge. They’re talking about it being at Sheffield United’s ground which will be a big event, he loves a big occasion.”