By Edward Chaykovsky
IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook admits that he wanted a much bigger name, and a much bigger fight, for his scheduled return on March 26th in Sheffield.
The International Boxing Federation forced his hand, ordering him to make a mandatory defense against Canadian challenger Kevin Bizier.
Brook (35-0, 24 KOs) is a big favorite to win the fight, but he's not underestimating the danger involved in facing Bizier (25-2, 17 KOs). It would be the third defense for Brook since beating Shawn Porter for the title in August 2014. Brook would like to be more active, but injuries continue to affect his career.
He was scheduled to face Diego Chaves last fall. A sparring injury forced him to withdraw from the contest. Brook has been inactive since a knockout win over Frankie Gavin last June.
"I would rather it be against someone else but I've not trained my whole life just to give the belt away, so I need to fight him, it is what it is," Brook told Nick Parkinson. "After the knife injury, I had to face my mandatory challenger Jo Jo Dan and then fought Frankie Gavin quickly on the spin but then I got injured again, had to pull out of fighting Diego Chaves and the mandatory has come around again.
"But I want to be fighting the bigger names. It's a bonus it's in front of the home fans and I don't have to travel too far. I just want to get it out the way, do a job on him, and then move on to a massive fight in the summer."
The welterweight division is loaded with talent. Fighters like Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, Errol Spence, Tim Bradley, Manny Pacquiao and several others could provide some Brook with a large line of lucrative talent. And the biggest fight for Brook, and the UK, is a showdown with countryman Amir Khan.
Brook wants to stay very active this year. He hopes to land a high profile fight in Las Vegas by the end of the year.
"You know that the fight everyone wants is against Khan, or the likes of Tim Bradley, Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia. These are the type of fighters I want to fight. I've not been in good company opponents-wise and I want to jump on them this year," Brook said.
"Bizier is a tough customer. He had a great win in his last fight and he's big at the weight. Anything can happen in boxing and I'm training for the best Bizier. This year is going to be the breakthrough year for me. I want to be fighting in Vegas by end of year. I like fighting in the UK for my UK fans but it's every fighter's dream to fight at the likes of Madison Square Garden or the MGM Grand. Fighting in Vegas is on the bucket list."
