By Radio Rahim
Sheffield - Undefeated Olympian Errol Spence Jr. reached his full potential on Saturday night, before a hostile crowd of 27,000 fans at Bramall Lane.
He squared off with the more experienced Kell Brook in the champion's backyard.
After two knockdowns, Spence, (22-0, 19 KOs) became the first American to dethrone an Englishman on British soil in nearly a decade, when he stopped Brook, (31-2, 25 KOs) in the eleventh round of action. The victory gave Spence the IBF welterweight championship.
After a competitive nine rounds of action, Spence dropped Brook in the tenth. The champion took a lot of punishment, but came roaring back in the final minute, but Spence fought off his final attack. Spence went back on the attack in the eleventh, and Brook went down to a knee where he was counted out by referee Howard Foster, who waved the fight off.
Brook received a lot of criticism after that fight, from fans, writers and fighters who felt that he mentally gave up and quit.
In Brook's last fight, he moved up by two full weight divisions to challenge middleweight king Gennady Golovkin. During the fight, Brook suffered a fractured orbital bone on his right eye. After taking punishment during the fifth and not firing back, Brook's corner threw the towel in.
With Spence, Brook appears to have fractured his orbital bone again - this time on his left eye.
Because of the injury and his gas tank running low, Brook did the right thing by deciding to take an exit, according to Spence.
"I don't think he had anything left. He was hurt. I was hitting him with a lot of good shots. He was fatigued and basically he broke his eye socket again. So, he had to quit. If he didn't quit, I would have stayed on him and jumped on him and kept hitting it, and then [his eye] might be injured permanently. So, it's a good thing that he quit so he can go on with his career after he heals up," Spence told BoxingScene.com.