By Edward Chaykovsky
Dominic Ingle, trainer of IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (35-0, 24KOs), hopes a fight with Brandon Rios can be made for August 29th in the UK.
He says his charge was not as motivated for recent fights against overmatched opponents Jo Jo Dan and Frankie Gavin, but he expects him to be super-motivated for Rios - and just as hungry as the day he traveled over to the United States to capture the IBF crown from Shawn Porter.
Ingle is looking to get his fighter a major opportunity and views Rios as the perfect fight to get them there.
Brook's promoter Eddie Hearn is speaking with Bob Arum of Top Rank, who has Rios. But Arum also promotes another piece of talent, eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao is recovering from a shoulder injury that was suffered in last month's loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. His return is excepted in 2016. A undefeated fighter with a world title would certainly be an option for Pacquiao's pay-per-view return.
Ingle told the Sheffield Star: “Everybody had written Kell off when he went to fight Porter in his own back yard. So he was ready for that and then after that win he suffered his stabbing incident and had to take so long out that he felt he had something to prove again when he got in with Jo Jo Dan."
“By the time he faced Gavin he’d trained for that long that every day was like Groundhog Day and he found it difficult to get up for it mentally. In the dressing room before the Gavin fight Kell said that his ‘adrenaline had not kicked in’ - I suppose that was because there wasn’t any fear factor."
“But the motivation would certainly be there if the Brandon Rios fight goes ahead. Who wouldn’t be up for that? It could be that if he wins that then a Manny Pacquiao fight would be attached, as the same promoter looks after both those fighters.”