By Edward Chaykovsky
According to promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport, IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-1, 25KOs) has no intention of vacating his world title and also has no intention of avoiding his mandatory obligation to unbeaten Olympian Errol Spence (21-0, 18KOs).
Brook is almost fully recovered from a fractured orbital bone that was suffered in his September TKO loss to IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin. Brook moved up by thirteen pounds and two full weight divisions to take that fight.
In recent days, Brook has called for fights with Danny Garcia, Manny Pacquiao and domestic rival Amir Khan. But he realizes that his mandatory with Spence will be the first order of business.
Hearn sat down with Brook and tried his best to persuade his fighter to vacate the IBF belt and start a new campaign at the junior middleweight limit of 154-pounds.
The Matchroom promoter was hoping to get Brook in line for possible huge fights with Saul 'Canelo Alvarez and Miguel Cotto.
"I sat down with him yesterday and we mapped out all the options. I said - ‘look, I think maybe you should move to 154. And he said - ‘my weights really good at the moment. I spoke to my nutritionist. We can make 147.’ I said - ‘I know you can make 147, but can you make it well?’ He said - ‘yeah, we believe we can.’ He said - ‘more importantly, I’ve been thinking.... I’m not vacating my belt.’ So I said to him, ‘But you know There are plenty of things to look at 154.’ [Brook then said] - no, I’m not vacating my belt.’ So then I said - ‘you’ve got to fight Errol Spence. He said - 'good, that’s a tasty fight,’" Hearn told IFL TV.
"[Brook then said] - ‘I want a unification, but that looks unlikely. So if [no unification], make the Errol Spence fight.’ I think that’s great news to fight fans, because people just presume he won’t want to fight him. The fact that people are saying that - he’s saying to me - 'make the fight with Errol Spence.’ So if you’re watching Errol Spence - you’re going to get what you want and we’re going to have a great show in Sheffield. You’re going to love the UK. We’ve got a real, real big fight on our hands. I repeat - Kell Brook will not vacate his title. I thought he would. I thought - ‘let’s move to 154.’ [Brook said] - ‘I’m world champion at welterweight. I think I can make the weight, I'm staying there.'"
Regarding the potential UK mega-fight with Khan, Hearn spoke to both fighters and he doesn't believe Khan will be willing to fight Brook in his first fight back. Khan just had two major surgeries on an injured hand.
"I spoke to Amir, and I spoke to Kell. Obviously it’s a fight everybody wants. Everyone has wanted it for so long. I don’t know if Amir would want to go straight into that fight. We want to go straight into that fight. Obviously he’s had the hand operation as well. But it's more about we’re focusing on what we’re doing and what Kell wants to do," Heanr said.
