 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | 27 May 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Bramall Lane, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | IBF welterweight title | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spence defeated Brook by 11th Round KO | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kell Brook vs. Errol Spence Jr. was a professional boxing match contested on 27 May 2017, for the IBF Welterweight championship. [1]
Kell Brook had made three successful defences of his IBF welterweight belt since his August 2014 victory over Shawn Porter and was ranked by Ring Magazine as the best welterweight in the world. In his previous bout in September 2016, he had moved up two weight divisions to challenge the undefeated top ranked Middleweight champion, Gennady Golovkin. Brook would suffer his first career loss, suffering a damaged eye socket before trainer Dominic Ingle threw in the towel during the fifth round. Despite this, Brook won many admirers for his spirited performance and stepping up two weight divisions to make the fight. Ingle confirmed Brook had gone through surgery successfully. [2] [3] [4]
Following this defeat Brook and his team entered into talks with Amir Khan over a potential grudge fight, while also keeping his IBF mandatory Errol Spence Jr. as an alternative. During negotiations, Khan urged Brook to fight Spence first and eventually talks broke down between Brook and Khan. Eddie Hearn mentioned talks were already ongoing with Spence's manager Al Haymon for a fight to take place possibly in the UK in May. Hearn received an extension from the IBF for negotiations between himself and TGB Promotions boss Tom Brown, as they were progressing. [5] The purse bids for the fight were set for 7 February by the IBF. [6] On 1 February, Hearn claimed that Brook would be keeping his title and making a defence against Spence and that he had reached out to Spence's team, to no reply. He assumed that they wanted the fight to go to purse bids. Spence said that he had no problem travelling to the UK for the fight, regardless of negotiations. [7] [8] With a deal close to being reached a day before the purse bids, the IBF granted a week extension, pushing the purse bid back 7 days. [9] [10] On 13 February a deal was reached for the fight to take place in Sheffield on 20 May 2017. [11] [12] [13] At a press conference at Bramall Lane, Sheffield on 22 March, the fight was officially announced to take place on 27 May 2017 live on Sky Box Office in the UK and Showtime in the US. [14] [15] [16]
This was the first boxing match to be held at Bramall Lane since Herol Graham vs. Lindell Holmes in July 1984.
Undefeated Super middleweight contender Jamie Cox scored a ninth round technical decision victory over Lewis Taylor and Lenroy Thomas scored a split decision victory over David Allen for the vacant Commonwealth heavyweight title. Allen's father Dave had won on the undercard of the Graham vs Holmes bout in 1984. [17]
In the chief support George Groves challenged former titleholder Fedor Chudinov for the vacant WBA super middleweight title. This was Groves' 4th attempt at a world title, having been stopped twice against Carl Froch and losing a split decision to Badou Jack. [18]
After an evenly matched first couple of rounds, with Chudinov walking the Briton down and drawing blood above Groves' left eye in the third round. Groves was cut above the eye in round four after an accidental clash of heads. With the bout finely poised entering the sixth round, Groves landed a right hook and followed up with a barrage of unanswered punches leading to referee Steve Gray stepping in to stop the bout.
Speaking in the aftermath Groves would credit his trainer Shane McGuigan, "This is the end of a lifetime's work. Shane McGuigan has resurrected my career. Now I'm mature enough to admit that. I feel like I'm the best in the division. I'm willing and ready to fight anyone." [19] [20] [21]
The 27,000 fans in attendance witnessed an extremely close and competitive contest. After a cagey opening round, Brook was able to land his counter overhand left with greater frequency throughout the first half of the bout and was typically the more aggressive fighter. Spence was able to trouble Brook with a right hook in third round, which forced the champion to stumble back momentarily, and was consistently able to land shots to the body. Spence was sent staggering onto the ropes by a big right hand early in the sixth round but the challenger would quickly regain his composure and would end the round the stronger. By the eighth round Brook's left eye was swelling noticeably and Spence would begin to take control, clearly winning the ninth. Early in the tenth, Spence, having Brook against the ropes, unloaded some heavy power shots, which caused Brook to go out. He beat the count, and Spence attempted to finish the fight but Brook would land a pair of left undercuts that helped him make it out of the round. However with his left eye nearly closing, Brook would sink to one knee just over a minute into the 11th round following a left to the body. He rose to his feet but the referee Howard Foster waved it off. At the time of the stoppage Spence led on all three scorecards with Adalaide Byrd having it 97–92, Alejandro Lopez 96–93 and Dave Parris 95–94. [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] ESPN's Dan Rafael had it 95–94 in favour of Spence, as did Sky Sports' Carl Froch and BBC 5 Live's Steve Bunce and FanSided. [28] Trainer Adam Booth had it 96–94 and both the The Guardian and Showtime's Steve Farhood had it 96–93 for Spence. [29]
Spence landed 246 of 633 punches thrown (39%) while Brook landed 136 of 442 (31%). [30] [31]
Speaking to Sky Sports in the ring after the bout Spence would praise Brook saying "I give Kell all the credit, and the hardcore fans here. A true champion goes anywhere to fight. He has gone to America and fought so I came here. I didn't feel that sharp tonight but true champions still win. He was tired, fatigued but kept firing shots. The goal is to unify the champion and become undisputed welterweight champion of the world."
A clearly disappointed Brook would similarly praise the new champion saying "It was a very tough fight and he is one of the best I've been with, if not the best. I got caught in the seventh in the eye and it felt the same as against Golovkin. I couldn't see out of the eye, so I had to stop. I thought it was very competitive, he won a few rounds, I won a few rounds, I felt I was in the fight. I'm gutted, devastated that in front of my own fans I've lost my belt."
Brook's promoter Eddie Hearn, said that Brook should now move up in weight saying "He took this fight because he didn't want to vacate. He broke his eye socket in the seventh round and kept going. Kell is stubborn, I believe he should move to light-middleweight. Amir Khan is a fight we have wanted for five years, but at the moment it is all about making sure Kell is OK."
The day after the bout Brook confirmed to Sky Sports that a CT scan showed he had broken his left eye socket, meaning he would likely have surgery. [32] [33]
Confirmed bouts: [34]
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 Canada | Super Channel |
 Hungary | Sport 1 |
 Panama | RPC |
 United Kingdom | Sky Sports |
 United States | Showtime |
Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin, often known by his nickname "GGG" or "Triple G", is a Kazakhstani professional boxer. He has held multiple middleweight world championships, and is a two-time former unified champion. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) titles at varying points between 2014 and 2023, and challenged once for the undisputed super middleweight championship in 2022. He is also a former International Boxing Organization (IBO) middleweight champion, having held the title twice between 2011 and 2023.
Lamont Peterson is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2019. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the IBF light welterweight title between 2011 and 2015, and the WBA (Regular) welterweight title in 2017.
Yordenis Ugas Hernández is a Cuban professional boxer. He held the WBA (Super) welterweight title from 2021 to April 2022, having previously held the WBA (Regular) title from 2020 until being elevated to Super champion. As an amateur, Ugás won a gold medal at the 2005 World Championships and bronze at the 2008 Olympics, both in the lightweight division.
Daniel Jacobs is an American professional boxer. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) middleweight title from 2014 to 2017, and the International Boxing Federation (IBF) middleweight title from 2018 to 2019. Nicknamed the "Miracle Man", Jacobs' career was almost cut short in 2011 due to osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. He went on to make a full recovery after spending 19 months out of the sport, meanwhile recovering from severe operation-induced injuries generally perceived as crippling.
Billy Joe Saunders is a British professional boxer. He is the first fighter from the Travelling community to win world championships in two weight classes, including the WBO middleweight title from 2015 to 2018 and the WBO super-middleweight title from 2019 to 2021. At regional level, he held the European, British, and Commonwealth middleweight titles between 2012 and 2015. Saunders represented Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics as an amateur, reaching the second round of the welterweight bracket. In the same year, he won gold at the EU Championships.
Christopher Livingstone Eubank Jr. is a British professional boxer. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) interim middleweight title twice between 2015 and 2021. He also held the International Boxing Organization (IBO) super-middleweight title twice between 2017 and 2019. At regional level, he held the British middleweight title in 2016. He is the son of former two-division world champion boxer, Chris Eubank.
Ezekiel "Kell" Brook is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2022. He held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) welterweight title from 2014 to 2017, and challenged once for a unified middleweight world title in 2016. At regional level, he held multiple welterweight titles, including the British welterweight title from 2008 to 2010. In May 2017, Brook was ranked as the world's best active welterweight by The Ring magazine.
George Groves is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2018. He held the WBA (Super) super-middleweight title from 2017 to 2018. At regional level, he held multiple super-middleweight titles, including the European, British, and Commonwealth titles between 2010 and 2014. As an amateur, Groves won the ABA middleweight title twice in 2007 and 2008.
Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán, commonly known as Canelo, is a Mexican professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes from light middleweight to light heavyweight, including unified titles in three of those weight classes and lineal titles in two. Álvarez is the first and only boxer in history to become undisputed champion at super middleweight, having held the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and Ring magazine titles since 2020, and the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) titles since 2021.
Shawn Christian Porter is an American sports commentator and former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2021. He was a two-time welterweight world champion, having held the IBF title from 2013 to 2014 and the WBC title from 2018 to 2019. Porter was particularly known for his aggressive pressure fighting style, physical strength, chin, and high workrate.
Miguel Angel Garcia Cortez, best known as Mikey Garcia, is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2006 to 2021. He held multiple world championships in four weight classes from featherweight to light welterweight, and challenged once for the IBF welterweight title.
Jessie Vargas is an American professional boxer. He held the WBO welterweight title in 2016. He also held the WBA (Regular) and IBO super lightweight titles in 2014.
Errol Spence Jr. is an American professional boxer. He is a former unified champion in the welterweight division, having held the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), and International Boxing Federation (IBF) titles between 2017 and 2023. As an amateur, in the welterweight division, he won three consecutive United States national championships and represented the U.S. at the 2012 Olympics, where he reached the quarter-finals. In 2015, Spence was named Prospect of the Year by ESPN.
Christopher Mark Algieri is an American professional boxer and former kickboxer. In boxing he held the WBO junior welterweight title in 2014 and challenged for the WBO welterweight title later that year; in kickboxing he was an undefeated ISKA World welterweight and WKA World super welterweight champion. Outside of boxing, Algieri works as a nutritionist.
Terence Allan Crawford is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, from lightweight to welterweight, including the undisputed championship at light welterweight and welterweight. As of May 2024, he holds the World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight titles.
Gennady Golovkin vs. Kell Brook, was a professional boxing match for the unified WBC, IBF, and IBO middleweight titles. The bout was held on 10 September 2016, at the O2 Arena in London, England. The event was televised live on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK and HBO in the United States. Golovkin won the fight in round 5, after Brook's corner threw in the towel.
Konstantin Petrovich Ponomarev is a Russian professional boxer in the welterweight division.
Gennady Golovkin vs. Daniel Jacobs, billed as Middleweight Madness, was a professional boxing fight contested for the unified WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, IBO championship. The bout was on March 18, 2017 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. It was televised on HBO pay-per-view in the United States, and on BoxNation in the United Kingdom.
Jaron Ennis is an American professional boxer who has held the IBF welterweight title since 2023. As an amateur, he won a silver and gold medal at the U.S. National Golden Gloves Championships in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford, billed as Undefeated. Undisputed. Unprecedented., was a welterweight professional boxing match between unified WBA Super, WBC and IBF champion, Errol Spence Jr., and WBO champion, Terence Crawford. The fight took place on July 29, 2023 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.