I’ll prove I’m best on the planet – Brook
KELL BROOK is determined to make up for lost time when he makes the third defence of his IBF welterweight title against Canadian Kevin Bizier in his home city of Sheffield tonight.
Brook has been out of action since May last year after suffering a broken rib shortly after a routine win over domestic rival Frankie Gavin, and wants to use the Bizier fight to re-stamp his authority on the 147lb division.
Brook said: “I believe I’m the best welterweight on the planet and I need to go out there and prove that I’m ready for the really big fights ahead.
“I always rise to the occasion and I always find a way. On Saturday I’m ready for an old-fashioned war and I’m intent on exciting everybody who turns up to see the show.”
Brook shocked American Shawn Porter to win the title in August 2014, but then endured more than a year on the sidelines as he recuperated from serious injuries sustained in a stabbing incident in Tenerife.
A routine win over Romanian Jo Jo Dan followed before the low-key win over Gavin, and Brook is fancied to get the job done with the minimum of fuss against mandatory challenger Bizier.
Bizier has won 25 of his 27 fights, but has been beaten twice by Dan, both via split decisions in 2013 and 2014.
Nevertheless, Brook insists he will be anything but complacent, adding: “I know Bizier is a strong, come-forward fighter and it is about working hard to try and break his heart. “Camp has gone unbelievably well.” Meanwhile, further down tonight’s card, Luke Campbell takes on Dewsbury’s all-action Gary Sykes.
Campbell hopes the sacrifice of moving himself away from his young family will help him shrug off the pain of his first professional defeat and claim the Commonwealth lightweight title.
Campbell tore himself away from his home city of Hull in the wake of his shock loss to Frenchman Yvan Mendy in December and joined new trainer Jorge Rubio in Florida.
The 28-year-old said: “I’m a family man – all I do is train and be with my family – so for me to go away for seven weeks was really hard, but the sacrifices I have made have really pushed me.”