Kell Brook v Errol Spence – The Big Fight

Posted by Rob Shepherd on Friday, May 26, 2017

Saturday night will see British fighter Kell Brook take on American Errol Spence Jr in the IBF world welterweight title fight in Sheffield. Brook will be desperate to bounce back after a defeat in his last fight but will face a stern test against unbeaten Spence.

In this article, we take a closer look at the boxers, who do you think will win?

Who is Kell Brook?

Kell Brook is the current IBF and WBA champion. He is 31 years old, from Sheffield and made his professional debut in 2004 when he beat Peter Buckley.

He became British welterweight champion in 2008 when he beat Welshman Barrie Jones to claim the vacant title. In 2009 he claimed the prestigious Young Boxer of the Year title by just one vote over Nathan Cleverly, this was the closest the voting had ever been.

2010 saw Kell claim the WBO Inter-Continental title with a victory against Poland’s Krzysztof Bienias.

Kell has only lost one fight and that was his last fight against Gennady Golovkin. The decision to fight Golovkin was a courageous one as it meant going up two divisions to middleweight. If that wasn’t difficult enough, his opponent hadn’t been beaten in 35 fights (32 by KO).

Although Brook’s team threw in the towel in the fifth round and Kell suffered a damaged eye socket, Brook’s performance in defeat won him many admirers and a return to welterweight is a logical one.

Who is Errol Spence?

Errol Spence Jr is from Long Island, New York and is 27 years old. Errol reached the quarter-finals in the 2012 Olympic Games and turned professional the same year.

Errol has quickly progressed up the rankings and perhaps his most impressive win to date was against Chris Algieri. Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan were unable to beat Algieri within the distance so this shows what an achievement that was.

Errol Spence’s last fight was a 6th round destruction of Italian boxer Leonard Bundu. It was a brutal KO against a fighter who had held the European title twice.

Errol has a large following in America and his followers love the power, speed and agility which he possesses. He is unlikely to be daunted by fighting in Kell Brook’s hometown, should be a cracker!

What do the Bookies Say?

The bookies have Errol Spence as favourite by a long way. At the time of writing you can get odds of 13/8 for a Kell Brook win and 8/15 on Errol Spence. Interestingly, the bookies have a stoppage between the 6th and the 8th the most likely round for a Spence stoppage.

What My Mate Dave Says

“Tough one to call this mate, Brook of course has experience on his side but as we saw with AJ v Klitschko, experience doesn’t always mean a victory! Both guys have tons of speed and the ability to end the fight in a split second. Brook is unbeaten at this weight but Spence is such a great fighter that I just can’t see this going the distance. I’m going to go against the bookies and predict Brook to win by stoppage late into the fight.”

Tales of the Tape

Stats wise there is little between the fighters. Spence does have the slightly longer reach so will be interesting to see if he tries to jab from distance and waits for the power shots. Kell may use his experience and fancy a longer fight.

Kell Brook

Errol Spence