After a preparation week basked in the Sheffield sun turned to drizzle on Saturday night, it was left up to the fighters in the ring to provide the heat, in front of a packed Bramall Lane stadium, and they did exactly that.
An impressive undercard that delivered numerous twists and turns was eventually topped off by the incredibly difficult to call IBF Welterweight Championship clash between hometown boy, champion Kell Brook and Texan protégé Errol Spence Jr.
After an enthralling fight that delivered both slugfest and sublime purist boxing moments, the challenger Spence Jr was declared victorious, with the champion taking the decision he was unfit to continue. With later medical tests showing Brook had fractured his eye socket, coincidentally the same injury to the other eye he had sustained in his last fight, it must be said the valiant Brook had made the right decision.
It would be the right call to say Brook was down on the cards at the time of the stoppage, although not by very much. Starting strongly, Brook had probably caught his elusive counterpart off guard a little, the American looking threatened and uneasy in the opening rounds of the bout. Once Spence had his rhythm going however, it was difficult to see anything other than a new champion being crowned, which is exactly how it panned out.
Taking a knee in the 10th Brook’s moments were numbered, a final flurry of punches saw him down again and subsequently the fight ended.
So to ask the question where do the fighters go now, for the champion, the answer is relatively straight forward. Errol Spence has made the statement that he wants to make the 147 division his own, and has targeted the other title holders, calling both Keith Thurman and Manny Pacquiao out by name immediately after the bell.
However with WBC and WBA champion Keith Thurman likely to be out for the rest of the year having had surgery on his elbow, and WBO title holder Pacquiao taking on Australia’s Jeff Horn later this year, it’s likely Spence’s ambition will be made to wait, the IBF title he holds comes with notoriously strict guidelines and time limits on who and when it’s champions should be fighting.
With Spence being in fighting shape, and seemingly coming away unscathed from his bout with Brook, it is likely he’ll be in action again later this year, with names such as Danny Garcia, Andre Berto and Shawn Porter being mooted.
For Brook however, the case isn’t that simple, and there’s a lot of questions now to be answered. Speaking after the fight with Spence, Brook mentioned that the thought of going blind played on his mind as he decided against carrying on. In any sport, particular injuries can put sportsman off ever reaching their fullest potential. Think footballers recovering from knee injuries, or runners with muscle strains…only with your sight being at risk while a world class boxer is throwing punches at you.
If any potential swelling around the eye is to happen in future fights for Brook – which it probably will, given the sensitivity of the skin around the eye – and it causes him to lose focus, it is unsafe and against his own wellbeing to be inside the squared circle.
Then to look at the final aspects of fighting again. Brook having lost two of his last three fights, arguably the toughest two of his career will leave the impression in some circles that he isn’t quite up to elite level.
Unfortunately, the nature of the sport today carries a huge emphasis on the number in a fighters red column. As Brook is a big size for a welterweight – a feature that was well documented in the build up to this fight – he is still a very dangerous opponent for any of the fighters in the division.
When you combine the two facts – low numbers equalling lower revenue and the fact Brook is a dangerous, risky fight for any in the division – it doesn’t make good reading for the Sheffield man, it is likely to deter other welterweights from facing him, as there is little gain for such high risk.
The weight is another issue to look at. Perhaps Brook’s future doesn’t lie in the welterweight division at all, perhaps he is best looking at light middle weight. Whereas the division doesn’t hold as many names as his current one does, his trainer Dom Ingle alluded to The Sportsman ahead of the Spence bout, that should he lose it probably would be time to move up.
Finally, the name that won’t go away. Amir Khan was ringside for Brook’s defeat, and is always going to be a potential interested party. That said, it may now be Brook’s turn to shy away from a super fight with Khan, as if he does lose this fight, he’ll find himself a long way down the pecking order.
Whatever happens for both of these warriors, there is no doubting the huge impact on not just their own careers, but the landscape of which they are a part of their incredible contest, and for that, they deserve the respect of the sport.
