Kell Brook has set his sights on another fight in his home town this summer after dismantling the mandatory challenger Jo Jo Dan on a triumphant return to Sheffield on Saturday.
Brook’s maiden defence of the IBF world welterweight title he took from the highly rated American Shawn Porter last August in Carson, California, carried significant emotional weight because of the horrific knife assault suffered by the 28-year-old less than three weeks on from his moment of glory. Brook feared for his life after the attack in a Tenerife apartment complex, which resulted in emergency surgery on his left leg.
Such rapturous scenes as the ones that greeted him at the Motorpoint Arena on Saturday night, where Brook was afforded a hero’s welcome before sending his opponent to the canvas four times in as many punishing rounds, were scarcely credible during those moments of bleak darkness.
“I laid there thinking I would never lace on gloves again [yet] I’m stood here, so fit and healthy, and defending my world title in my home city,” Brook said after chalking up the 23rd knockout of an unblemished 34-fight professional record. “I was there soaking it [the atmosphere] all up. It was unbelievable. To walk out, getting closer to that ring felt amazing.”
Brook hopes his next journey through the ropes will allow him to fulfil another childhood dream in a potential June bout at Sheffield United Football Club’s Bramall Lane, with the promoter Eddie Hearn identifying Juan Manuel Márquez and Brandon Ríos as potential opponents.
The American Ríos could provide an intriguing counterpoint to the champion’s precise power punching, although Márquez – a true great of the modern era – holds the real allure for Brook.
“I am a Blades fan,” he said. “It would be unbelievable. Márquez, just the name itself. What he’s done and his legacy is unbelievable. To share a ring with him at Bramall Lane would be a dream come true.”
The 41-year-old Mexican, who once squared off with Floyd Mayweather Jr and concluded a four-fight series against Manny Pacquiao with a shuddering knockout of his rival, is recovering from a knee injury while those two former opponents – and the only recognised world champions in the welterweight division aside from Brook – prepare for their defining hour in Las Vegas on 2 May.
Should Márquez’s fitness problems prevent him from meeting Brook, there would be one fewer element to check the clamour for an all-British showdown with Amir Khan. The pair have a long-established, simmering feud and Hearn has a provisional date of 13 June booked at Wembley in the event of terms being agreed. However, the promoter believes Khan, who Brook playfully taunted as being “delicate around the whiskers”, and his camp fear they have too much to lose from taking on his man.
Having bemoaned the lack of progress made from preliminary discussions with Khan’s team, Hearn offered his own take on the situation.
“Let’s break it down,” he said. “It’s the biggest payday of his [Khan’s] career by a long way; it’s the biggest payday out there for him right now by a long way; he thinks he can win the fight; it’s the fight the British public wants and it’s for a world title. He just can’t fancy the fight.
“You can never say he’s a coward – he’s been involved in some brilliant fights and he isn’t afraid. I don’t think they think they [can] win the fight, deep down, and they know, if they lose to Kell Brook, he’s done.”
