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By Keith Idec
Kell Brook is the more experienced fighter and the defending welterweight world champion.
The British star has taken the best shots a middleweight knockout artist could land and never went down. Even before moving up two weight classes to challenge Gennady Golovkin, Brook had faced more proven opponents than Errol Spence Jr.
Brook also will face Spence in his hometown of Sheffield, England, where a crowd of 27,000 is expected at the soccer stadium Brook has attended games since he was 7 years old.
It would appear that everything favors the 31-year-old Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) entering their 12-round fight Saturday night. You wouldn’t know it if you looked at the odds.
The unbeaten Spence (21-0, 18 KOs) is slightly more than a 2-1 favorite over Brook. Being an underdog, despite all of those apparent advantages, has motivated Brook to stop Spence’s march toward stardom.
“I relish it,” Brook said during a press conference Thursday in Sheffield. “I relish it. This is boxing. I love a challenge. I’ve proven these guys wrong before and I’m gonna do it again.”
Brook also reminded doubters that there are more questions about Spence than him approaching what clearly will be the biggest fight of Spence’s career.
“There’s question marks over Errol Spence,” Brook said. “He’s never been in with a guy like me. He’s never been [in] with anything close to anything like me. So there’s question marks over there and we’re gonna get ‘em answered Saturday night.”
That said, Brook knows full well that he hasn’t accepted an easy assignment in this mandatory defense of his IBF welterweight championship. The 27-year-old Spence, a strong southpaw from DeSoto, Texas, is widely regarded as an emerging star in the United States.
“He will give me many problems,” Brook said. “He’s an ex-Olympian. He’s a very good fighter. Whoever he’s been put up against, he’s been knocking ‘em over. But like I said, southpaw suits me, the [trainer Dominic] Ingle style. You know, we’ve seen every single style. And it’s just gonna be another day in the office for me. I’ve made sure that I put myself through it. I got on top of the weight early in camp, so I come in fit and healthy, and firing on all cylinders.”
Showtime will broadcast Brook-Spence in the United States (5:15 p.m. ET/2:15 p.m. PT). Sky Sports Box Office will televise their highly anticipated welterweight title fight on pay-per-view in the United Kingdom (6 p.m. BST; £16.95 in HD).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.