Kell Brook to face Michael Clark
Undefeated British and WBO inter-continental champion Kell Brook has lined up veteran American Michael Clark as his next opponent at the Liverpool Echo Arena on December the 11th.
This fight forms part of Frank Warren’s “Return of the Magnificent Seven “card but for Brook’s fans this is a slightly disappointing fixture. Right now Brook is ranked number one contender by the WBO, is 22 fights unbeaten and 24 years of age - he needs to start stepping up the calibre of his opponents if he wants to join the elite. So far in his career he has taken few risks in terms of his opponents and if he is serious about winning titles he needs to test himself more.
That’s not to be disrespectful to Clark who is a solid fighter, but at 37 he is winding down on a career that hasn’t seen him do anything particularly relevant since he was a title contender 11 years ago when he lost to Artur Grigorian.
It is hardly likely to be a good pay day for Brook, or even to be a reputation enhancer - it's more about taking on a wily veteran and learning a few tricks. Right now Brook is the mandatory challenger of Manny Pacquiao, and while he might not quite be ready for that yet it would still be a good idea to fight a higher calibre of fighter, someone like Joshua Clottey, Alfonso Gomez or Viacheslav Senchenko.
Perhaps the reason for this fight could be that Brook isn’t happy with the way he is fighting at the moment and feels he needs another tune up; he told Warren’s website; "I've had a look at his record, and Clark knows what he is doing.
"These Americans are always dangerous, and hopefully I can send out a statement by beating him.
"I felt a little bit flat after the Jennings fight because of the way that it ended on a cut.
"This time I'm going to give the fans a treat and knock this guy out big time."
Brook KO’d Jennings in five rounds but if it was a slightly less than succinct performance it was a comfortable victory nonetheless.
Still Warren and his team do have some sort of plan worked out as they also announced that they are looking at Mike Jones as his next opponent. Jones is almost the American version of Brook, he’s a bit older at 27 but with the same record - and boasting two extra KO’s.
There is no denying that Brook is one of Britain’s top prospects but he needs to look at pushing his career onwards. The European title is probably out of reach because it’s owned by Matthew Hatton and there is no chance of Hatton Promotions coming together with Warren's outfit after the fallout between Warren and Ricky Hatton.
It would be nice to see Brook looking towards the bigger named opponents and should he come through Clark and Jones then he has to be looking for a world title level challenge and really making a splash internationally because he is a genuine talent and a fantastically exciting boxer to watch.
However he is certainly taking his time showing the rest of the world this.
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