As the dust settles on another Manny Pacquiao master-class, across the pond and probably well under the radar of the pound-for-pound champ an Englishman romped to victory against Krzysztof Bienias and secured his place as the next contender to the Filipino. Kell Brook has looked full of potential since he made his debut and now the world has begun to sit up and take notice of the Yorkshireman.
Welterweight is a fiercely competitive division both on the domestic and international scene and Brook has clambered up the ladder the hard way and by defeating Bienias he has technically put himself in the front of the queue to face Pacquiao next. That is not necessarily a queue many people want to be part of.
If you compare the rise of “Special K” to that of golden boy Amir Khan it is a contrasting story of hard knocks vs bright lights. Khan’s whole career has been micro-managed, there is no denying he is a talented boxer but he is the poster boy of the sport in the UK and has had an easier ride than Brook while getting four times the recognition. Khan has his fights handpicked to suit him, gets a huge amount of promotion and even when he lost in under a minute to Breidis Prescott he was still heralded as the great British hope for the future. While Brook has just quietly gone about his business, concentrated on boxing, stacking up good results, learning form fighting experienced pros and is now probably a much more rounded fighter than Khan as a result.
Brook made his debut in 2004 against legendary journeyman Peter Buckley and has improved the quality of his opposition with every fight, away from the talk shows and celebrity appearances that have peppered Khan’s career. A man of few words Brook has just concentrated on being the best he can and that is now paying dividends.
As a fighter Special K is exciting to watch, he has quick hands, excellent foot work and is a solid unit, he is quite big for a welterweight and uses his power to his advantage. He has a very handy left and throws a huge amount of punches, racking up 415 by the start of the sixth against Bienias without pushing too hard, he could easily throw well over a thousand per fight.
Friday night was a good challenge for Brook as he stepped up the quality of his opposition and took home the WBO Intercontinental belt, a gateway to bigger things. In Bienias he had a worthy opponent, he is no push over, unbeaten in 17 since losing to Junior Witter in 2005. Bienias set out to last the full 12 rounds with a very negative defensive tactic, which Brook made short shift of comfortably dispatching him in the sixth having dominated the whole fight.
The only concern was that Brook couldn’t keep up his frantic pace for the whole bout as he started to dwindle in the sixth before unleashing his knock out combination. However at 23 years old it is still a learning process. It was reminiscent to the night David Haye fought Carl Thompson, Haye dominated the whole match-up but didn’t count on Thompson’s granite chin, by the fifth Haye was punched-out and Thompson just had to push him over. Brook needs to learn like Haye did how to conserve his energy over the full 12 against top pros and he will then be ready for the big names.
Yet there is no denying that Brook has always done the business against whoever he has faced. He has had solid wins against Kevin McIntyre, who he comfortably destroyed in the first in emphatic fashion with a couple of sensational rights, as well as taking out Michael Lomax who he cooked in three. These are good domestic fighters but now Brook needs to move it up a level like Khan is currently doing.
It is unlikely he will get his shot at Pacquiao what with the Floyd Mayweather business, and I doubt very much Brook would even want that impossible challenge just yet. An all British fight against Khan would capture the nation’s imagination but its unlikely Khan and his entourage will want to go anywhere near a fighter of Brooks’s calibre who is big for a welterweight, a division above what Khan currently fights at. Michael Jennings would be a great challenge for him as a top British welterweight and would represent the perfect stepping stone onto the world scene, if not maybe someone like Alfonso Gomez who has been about for a while competing at a high level.
So keep an eye out for Brook, undefeated, current 2009 young British boxer of the year, Lonsdale belt holder and on his way to international glory. The British boxing scene is in rude health currently and Brook could be the best of the bunch.
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