Brook out to shock America’s rising star
THE undefeated American who challenges Kell Brook for his world title in Sheffield tonight has beaten Lennox Lewis. Not that our IBF champion, who has to slave to get down to welterweight, should panic.
Errol Spence Jnr has got the better of Lewis, who is still the last undisputed world heavyweight champion, on the chess board rather than in the boxing ring.
The pair are linked by their roots in Jamaica, where Lewis and Spence’s father still have houses. They have met now and again even, though Spence calls a small town in Texas his home.
DeSoto, a steady drive from Dallas, is where Spence’s father used to take him to the barber’s shop as a nine-year-old to watch Lewis in his championship duels with the equally great Evander Holyfield.
‘Barber’s shops in the US are not only places to get your hair cut,’ says Spence.
‘They are America’s man cave. We go to be around each other, have fun, talk about life, sports, everything. It’s where a man can release himself.
‘The dude there used to charge everyone a couple of bucks to go and watch the Saturday night fights on television. It was a big heavyweight era.
‘We loved Lennox. He’s a cool dude and loves his chess. Yeah, I beat him. I’ve got two little girls now, so don’t get so much time for all that. But I reckon I can still get him. Maybe next week. I always shoot back to Jamaica after my fights. I never forget that back in the day my father and I were the only two Americans cheering the Englishman in that barber’s shop.’
Now he’s the American fighting an Englishman in Sheffield United’s quintessentially English football ground.
So talented is Spence — who has won his first 21 pro fights, 18 of them by knockout — that Americans in search of their next great boxing hope call him The Truth.
He lives up to that nickname when asked about the qualities of Brook, saying: ‘Honestly, he’s a very good fighter. Not for nothing is he a world champion. Not for nothing is he unbeaten at welterweight.’
Not for nothing, either, is Floyd Mayweather tipping the 27-yearold Spence to win his first belt.
What happens in the Las Vegas gym is supposed to stay in the Las Vegas gym, but the gossip along that Strip whispers that when Spence sparred with Mayweather — at the time of only his third paid fight — he not only troubled the great man but put him down. Spence says only: ‘I think I held my own.’
Brook admits he would not be surprised if both he and Spence hit the canvas: ‘This will be high drama. We could both go down — like Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko — and both have to answer that question of whether we get up. I will because I want with all my heart to win the biggest fight of my career.’
Spence says: ‘I’m not giving myself bad omens by saying I’ll go down. But I will answer that question if it comes.
‘I’m the young fighter who is hungry for a world title. That’s why other top names in the welterweight division have avoided me. I respect Kell for taking this challenge, even though I expect him to be another man down.’
Brook is mutually admiring of Spence, saying: ‘He has a lot of ability and power and I know this will be tough. But I’m at home and will draw on the energy of those 27,000 fans on a night when all Sheffield comes together, including the players and fans of United and Wednesday. Also, I enjoy fighting southpaws. Sheffield will be buzzing.’
So will that barber’s shop in Texas. Spence says: ‘My father told me that one day the old boys will be back there watching me win a world title. It’s time.’
Both men have answered one question already. After all the speculation about the difficulty they have draining down to welterweight, both weighed in a good half a pound within the 147lb limit. Of Brook’s well-advertised dieting, Spence says: ‘ Don’t believe the hype. All boxers fight well below their real weight.’
What Spence does not have is Brook’s wealth of experience. He has yet to be taken further than 10 rounds. Even so, I worry that unless Brook does something special in the first six rounds, the extra mile he has to go for weight loss as the naturally bigger man will weaken him late on.