Just rewatched Brook vs Spence. My thoughts

[paulf]

Yeah, I didn't see Brook doing all that well in those early rounds, but since he was the champ and fighting I home I figured he was getting the nod on the cards. Porter was out landing him, but he wasn't anything super eye catching, while Brook was landing some nice ones here and there.

It was a fun fight, lots of drama. I figured Spence would win but Brook made a pretty good account of himself.

If he makes the weight okay, I really think Brook should stay at 47.

[SteveM]

Brook took 1-5, period. Many of Spence's jabs were air punches, his body work was on point but there wasn't enough of it, and Brook was much more agile.

Spence himself will acknowledge he lost the first half. But that's okay - that's how he fights. Same thing was happening against Algieri, he was getting outboxed at first. It just takes him time to adjust.

I had Brook 2 rounds up after six. In the sixth, imo, Brook was even starting to consistently look like he was coming out on top. Spence looked a little ponderous.

Then in the seventh something strange happened for me. I didn't see any one shot or even series of shots that could seemingly account for Brook slowing down and becoming much more hitable.

Yeah, I know, "putting body shots in the bank from early" but that normally happens after a final telling body shot.

But in 7th and 8th Brook was getting hit to the body much more and not wilting - I mean obviously he didn't like it but those shots weren't stopping him.

Two pieces of news since have come out. Spence has come out and said he felt sluggish - explaining what I was seeing through to end of round six. And, Brook has come out and said his orbital was broken in the seventh.**

If that is the case, I believe that more than anything was what lead to him visibly slowing down.

Can you even imagine what was going through his mind?

Don't you think all the words of his surgeon wouldn't some flooding back into his head completely disturbing his concentration and composure? Words that probably went something along the lines of "you are very lucky to still have your vision"

Meaning of course that he then became more hittable as his concentration was not 100% on his opponent. I suspect he will say more in the coming weeks or rather Hearn will.

** I gave posters and writers on here a hard time after the Golovkin fight for using passive sentence structure when talking about his orbital bone. eg. "Brook suffered a broken orbital bone" instead of "Golovkin broke Brooks orbital bone" - now with a second breakage in successive fights it seems that Brook's orbitals do have disposition to break way beyond average expectations for fighters - so probably the passive is correct.

[iamboxing]

well I just discovered from another thread that during the surgery to repair his socket he had his entire eyeball removed outta his head....**** me....it takes HUGE BALLS to even get back in the ring after surgery like that

[Johnny2x2x]

Watched it a second time too and Brook was missing a lot more than I thought. At first viewing I think the crowd and the announcers weee influencing viewers. Brook had better lateral movement, but he was missing a lot. Spence looked awkward at times and I think that added to the idea that Brook was outboxing him. But this was a fight where Spence imposed his will and made the fight into the type of fight he wanted.

Knowing the punch stats ended up 246-136 landed in favor of Spence made more sense on the second viewing. I gave Brook 2 or 3 rounds and that's it. He did not win a 4th round.

Spence was excellent at slipping punches in close. Really rarely took a full shot at all.

[tokon]

Neither guy looked like the best 147 in the world.

Brook pretty much just got tired and quit.

Spence often looked hesitant to engage and sloppy when he did. Brook was easily countering his jab and catching him with straight rights. Spence was lucky that Brook is not a big puncher, Thurman would have hurt him.

I feel Thurman, Garcia and Porter all better than Spence on last nights showing.

[NaijaD]

Neither guy looked like the best 147 in the world.

Brook pretty much just got tired and quit.

Spence often looked hesitant to engage and sloppy when he did. Brook was easily countering his jab and catching him with straight rights. Spence was lucky that Brook is not a big puncher, Thurman would have hurt him.

I feel Thurman, Garcia and Porter all better than Spence on last nights showing.

Garcia???

Bro stop lol

[SkillspayBills]

I'm actually watching the fight for the 4th time right now. In the 5th Brook goes southpaw and Spence proceeds to beat him up lol. It was pretty funny watching it.

[Zaryu]

Haven't re-watched it, but I'm comfortable with how I assessed the fight yesterday. I had it even after 2, 4, 6 & 8 with Spence pulling ahead for the first time, and permanently, after the 9th.

It was a terrific fight with a lot of close rounds. I'm happy the fight ended without controversy. I don't have a problem with Brook surrendering at that point because he wasn't going to win and fans in general don't really care about your health when it's all said and done.

Brook is not a quitter, that word has such a negative connotation that it's disrespectful for couch potatoes to use it against a warrior like Brook. Victor Ortiz... Now that's a slightly different story.

[SteveM]

Garcia???

Bro stop lol

Good opening post my friend. Yes, lol at this ignorance. People can't leave their tribalism, fan-boyism behind.

If Spence is top three welter Brook is not fa behind. If Thurman is top three welter then Garcia was in his slipstream way behind.

[sicko]

Watched Sky yesterday which was worse than watching HBO because Carl Froch and that entire team was extremely bias as expected. Those early rounds was CLOSE but Sky made it seem like Brook was dominating them. What they was doing was going crazy for what landed for Brook but then not acknowledging what landed for Spence Jr so their coverage made the first few rounds look very one sides for Brook. While yes Brook was winning early rounds it was Close Rounds! Also Sky ignored the work Spence Jr was putting in on the Inside and that was the determining factor of the fight was the inside/Body Work from Spence Jr

Good Fight!