Social media is a funny thing. I was bemused to see comments on Twitter this week that Kell Brook wants to swerve a fight with Errol Spence ? pretty odd as he just went toe-to-toe with Gennady Golovkin.
You’d think that after going in for a fight like that, people would credit Kell with having some balls. But people still want to ask questions so I’ll try to answer them.
Firstly, it’s no secret that it is a struggle for Kell to make 147 pounds and I felt he would be better off at light-middleweight.
But Kell does not want to vacate. In fact, he is desperate not to. Spence is his mandatory and it is Spence who he wants to fight. Now that fight is very close to being made.
The only way we would not do it is if Amir Khan comes about, but he wants a tune-up fight first, so I’d hope to make the Spence fight in the next week. Both us and Spence’s representatives asked for the purse bid to go back to next Tuesday so we could finish the deal and I am confident we will.
There have been other discussions ? we spoke with Miguel Cotto’s people a few times – but the Spence fight is firm favourite.
If it goes ahead, the plan would be for the end of May and we are open to fighting here or in the US. I think it would be an electrifying fight, probably one of the most exciting and competitive you could make at welterweight. In Kell, you have a fearless fighter of tremendous skill and power and in Spence you have a fighter with a perfect record of 21 wins, 18 knockouts.
That sounds like a great mixture to me. If everything can be agreed, it’s a fight we’d love.
Last week we had a great time in the US with Anthony Joshua. It was his first real publicity tour to America and they could not get enough of him ? he really is a star, not just in boxing but in sport in general.
It was interesting doing his press conference. As always I like to take a close look at the fighters when they are around each other. You always pick up little signs of what they are thinking. In Wladimir Klitschko, I saw a guy who really believes he is going to beat AJ.
Joshua knows this is his first taste of an elite opponent. You only come across a special fighter like Wladimir once very often and this is such a huge test, such a big showdown between the old and the new of this sport. I think it could be a classic on April 29 at Wembley Stadium.
Talking of heavyweight match-ups, there’s only a few weeks until David Haye and Tony Bellew get unleashed on each other on March 4 at The O2. There’s something about the preparations that has made me think.
Haye, to judge from what I’ve seen and heard, seems to have been sunning himself in a variety of time zones while Bellew has been locked away in a Sheffield hotel, thinking only about their fight.
A lot of people see this as a one-sided fight and Tony is the underdog, no doubt about that. But is David ready to go to some horrible, dark places to win? I wonder about that.
Haye has so many questions to answer ? does he have enough left in the tank, can he respond if he doesn’t get Tony out of there early, like he seems to think he will? If it gets ugly, will he have enough to turn it back in his favour? I’m looking forward to finding out.
On that undercard we have a pair of crackers with Sam Eggington going up against former world champion Paulie Mallignagi for the WBC international welterweight title. That is a real crossroads fight for Eggington.
We also have Ohara Davies at 14-0 going up against Derry Matthews. South versus north, a really talented up-and-comer against a brilliant champion. It is a real bad blood match.
It was a routine win for Chris Eubank Jr at the weekend, but I am still struggling to accept people calling him a world champion because he collected the IBO belt. Eubank Jr is clearly a talented fighter but we have a handful of young guys who each could have won that belt if they had been inclined.
The question is where he goes now with this belt. If the negotiating process was not so painful he might have some very good options with British fighters. He has been talking a lot about James Degale, but he must surely know that he will not get financial parity going up against a fine champion with a very credible belt such as James.
It was sad to see David Price suffer another traumatic loss against Christian Hammer for the European heavyweight title at the weekend.
He is a good guy so it is hard to see him take such wide criticism. It is also unfair ? he is an Olympic medallist who has been British and Commonwealth champion. He has always chased the dream.
He could still be in some exciting fights but it is a case of whether he is willing to go down to the right level.
We have just announced another exciting talent from the GB Olympic team in Joshua Kelly.
To look at him you’d think he is more suited to the catwalk than a ring walk. But he is far more than a pretty face. I did my research on him to see if he had the minerals to be a pro fighter and everyone told me the same ? this guy is hard as nails.
Along with Lawrence Okolie and Joe Cordina, we are adding some of the best talents in this country to our stable. Exciting times ahead.
