Why did it take Kell Brook 10yrs to fight someone good?

[boliodogs]

I don't know why it took so long. He was injured forcing him to call off the Alexander fight. What really matters is how good he is now and I think he looks very good and would have a good chance to beat any welterweight. Also if you consider Khan a good fighter then he was willing to face a good fighter many years ago. I have been on boxing scene for many years and I can remember Brook challenging Khan to fight him many years ago and he repeated the challenge many times a year. It was always Khan who turned down Brook's challenge to fight. Brook is still challenging Khan to fight him and Khan is still turning Brook down. Why? It's always been a big money fight and it's bigger than ever now. If Khan won it would give him a world title that he doesn't have. It would also give Khan a lot more credibility at welterweight.

[HanzGruber]

Ah well, it could be worse. He could be getting almost KTFO by Jessie "8 KO's" Vargas or folded in half by a washed up Collazo.

Or domestic level Carson jones. So yes it could be much worse I suppose

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Or domestic level Carson jones. So yes it could be much worse I suppose

You have to go that far back? Lol...I'm talking about certain fighters last fights where they were badly hurt by non punchers and saved by shadiness.

[M Bison]

I remember watching Vernon Forrest come up and he was a pro for almost a decade before he fought someone who actually had a legitimate chance to beat him and I think it was a full decade on when he finally got the Mosley fights. Some of it is definitely careful matchmaking and protecting the fighter, but I think after awhile you get the top class of guys who need a reason to take a risk against the guy with the big record that they've either never heard of or have heard of but isn't necessarily the biggest name and beating them offers little reward.

I think the thing for me that makes it more unacceptable is that people are saying 5-10 years ago the welterweight division is pretty stacked and some argue it still is now.
He wasted a year avoiding the Devon Alexander fight I have absolutely no idea why he did that but its his choice.

So you would say Kell Brook has reached the point that he can no longer take the soft matchmaking fights and he will eventually have to fight someone good when he beats Chaves?
We shall see, I think TMT camp are willing to put Errol Spence in with any of the champions at 147 and I think the easiest title for him probably would be Kell Brook and not Keith Thurman.

[Bram]

I think the thing for me that makes it more unacceptable is that people are saying 5-10 years ago the welterweight division is pretty stacked and some argue it still is now.
He wasted a year avoiding the Devon Alexander fight I have absolutely no idea why he did that but its his choice.

So you would say Kell Brook has reached the point that he can no longer take the soft matchmaking fights and he will eventually have to fight someone good when he beats Chaves?
We shall see, I think TMT camp are willing to put Errol Spence in with any of the champions at 147 and I think the easiest title for him probably would be Kell Brook and not Keith Thurman.

I would say that, assuming he gets past Chaves, that his next few fights, or at least his next one, should be against someone better than Chaves on paper, and in Brooks' case, he just needs big names. If he wins this fight and ends up fighting.... someone like a Selcuk Aydin - that's unacceptable. He's almost 30, he's presumably in his prime, active for a champion and it's time to push now.

And I would agree, I think he would be an easier road for Spence than Thurman and if they fought, I'd probably pick Spence. I do like Brook though. I think he'll beat Chaves without problem and I thought he would have beaten Rios had that fight come off as well. But I'm willing to concede that the method they've used to get him to this point definitely has to change now.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Brook took a while to get properly noticed. He wasn't an amateur standout like Khan or Cotto (mentioned in the OP) who were groomed for success at a very early stage by powerful promoters. Or Broner who was groomed as the next Mayweather by Al Haymon. He fought on a lot of undercards and small hall shows for years.

Brook was promoted (not very well) by Frank Warren for a long time. Warren had him playing second fiddle to the likes of Khan, Cleverly and co.

Brook was also quite ill-disciplined as a young fighter. Bad lifestyle, ballooning up in weight, getting into trouble.

At the end of the day, he's improved to become a world champion and it doesn't really matter what he did before. It matters what he does now.

Only certain fans are keen to harp back on the past because their own fighters are becoming less relevant by the day.

Brook's career seems to be on the up whilst other more heralded British prospects started out with a **** but are petering out very rapidly.

[jqSide]

We really don't know what's on his mind. Maybe boxing is just some kind of a career to him. He boxes and get paid for it. He's definitely not the kind who wants to beat the best. You won't even hear him mentioning their names. Khan at this point is his passport leading to a comfortable retirement. He'll most likely retire win or lose after the fight. Fans just need to lower their expectations when it comes to Brook.

[soul_survivor]

Lets look into it shall we?

Kell Brook has been a pro since 2004 and from that time-span he has fought unheard of guys and he almost lost to one of them in Carson Jones, fast forward 10 years from 2004 he then fights a legitimate opponent albeit that he had to clinch him a tonne of times to get the win but he still got the nod good for him!

We should compare this to other fighters when they stepped up and the time-scale it took them to fight a tough opponent or even just to gain that world title -
Amir Khan - Vs. Andriy Kotelnik, 2009, WBA World super lightweight title
Wait required 4 years
Miguel Cotto - Vs. Randall Bailey, 2004, WBO World super lightweight title
Wait required 3 years
Adrien Broner - Vs. Daniel Ponce De Leon, 2011, WBO Inter-Continental super featherweight title
Wait required 3 years

So why did it take Kell so long to fight a decent opponent, he is the special one afterall isn't he?

So now here we are into 2015 and he is fighting yet again... "who the hell are they" type of opponents Ironically get this Frankie Gavin Vs Kell Brook was a PPV fight and the fight with Chaves is a PPV fight how funny is that?

When Rios, Bradley and Thurman fought him they weren't PPV mainevent material but when the special diva fights him it suddenly merits paying to see this mismatch?

The problem for me with Kelly Brook is he blatantly and shamefully ducked Devon Alexander of all people whilst Amir Khan and Porter both stepped up and fought that man who gave Kell Brook nightmares, seriously guys you believe the hype of this guy or not?

It all depends on a fighters promotion, for years Kell was the B show if not the C show. Tbh, pre-Porter, he had fights with Senchenko and Jones, none of whom are bad fighters. He would have had the Alexander fight circa 2013 I believe it was, but both guys kept getting injured.

I still remember Kell's interview after and he was just so depressed. He wanted the fight so bad. But since Porter he has fought opponents worse than Senchenko lol

[misery.s]

its a business... make as much money as possible in the easiest way without getting hurt.

[Larry the boss]

who cares..Khan refuses to fight the man..damn just make it happen