Kell Brook must get busier abroad after pointless Kevin Bizier rout

Andy Lewis 08:50 28/03/2016
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  • The Special One: Kell Brook (r).

    Despite the 147lb division being talent-rich, the governing body bizarrely served up the Canadian as Brook’s mandatory challenger and he obliged them by destroying him inside two rounds.

    Such one-sided fights do nobody any good – especially not Brook, whose underwhelming run with the IBF gold has comprised just 12 rounds and easy wins over Jo Jo Dan, Frankie Gavin and now Bizier.

    A combination of injuries and waiting for Amir Khan are mitigating factors and you can be sure Brook himself will have wanted a higher calibre of opposition.

    Now it’s time for that to happen and he may have to make concessions to face the division’s big guns.

    Brook has a perfect 36 wins on his record but only two of them have taken place outside the UK.

    And since beating Shawn Porter in California to claim his world title, he’s fought in London once and his hometown Sheffield twice.

    Brook wants WBC champion Danny Garcia, WBA king Keith Thurman or the winner of next month’s Tim Bradley versus Manny Pacquiao showdown. None of those men are coming to the Steel City.

    “I want the big fights. I have my mandatory out of the way,” Brook said. “That is what we have to do now – make a big fight. I want that WBC belt, Danny Garcia. Or Manny Pacquiao, or Timothy Bradley.”

    The welterweight division is split by politics and certain fights cannot be made due to promotional rivalries.

    Brook, who works with Eddie Hearn, is outside of all that and in theory no barriers prevent him fighting anyone. He could well be the best welterweight in the world but he will probably need to dig out his passport to prove it.

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