The Acid Test: Is It Special K Or Just Ordinary Kell?

Is ‘Special K’ as special as we were once to believe?

Welterweight Kell Brook got off to such a great start, and looked like such a prospect. After all , the young lad came from the same gym in Sheffield that made household names of Prince Naseem Hamed, Ryan Rhodes, Johnny Nelson, Clinton Woods, Junior Witter and Herol ‘Bomber’ Graham.

In 2009, Brook won Young British boxer of the year award, joining the same ranks as Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe, Ken Buchanan, John H Stracey, Nigel Benn and Barry Mcguigan.

Incidentally, in a bet with a friend at the time, I picked Nathan Cleverley over Kell, and I still think Nathan has done better, in an easier division maybe, but he was a World Champion first…even if he did effectively fall at his first genuine hurdle.

I digress…

Brook is most definitely in possession of some silky skills and there is a certain composure about the way he does his work, unfortunately that composure almost looks to me like he switches off sometimes.

The first outing against Carson Jones was interesting; it showed that Kell could take a good shot and that he was gutsy and could show heart when needed.

The harshest of critics might have said that he shouldn’t be required to show his heart against someone like Jones, however tough the visiting American was, as someone of Kell’s purported level should be dealing with Jones the way he was dealt with in the re-match a year later, stopping Jones in eight rounds.

He couldn’t have been that tough then, Mr Jones, so what changed? Maybe Kell realised that if he didn’t put on a good performance then he might not be as good as the hype? That his career as a ‘champion in waiting’ could be in jeopardy?

Perhaps it’s the old excuse of ‘I couldn’t get up for it’ ? Which, coming from an established world champion, you could understand, but an up and coming fighter should be getting ‘up’ for every fight until he reaches the top. Either way, he looked good in the rematch, physically and mentally, he was up for it.

Brook’s opponent tonight at Sheffield’s Motorpoint Arena, Vyacheslav Senchenko is primarily known for two things in the boxing world. One, he was the man who beat Ricky Hatton on Hatton’s comeback, (he didn’t retire him, Pacquiao retired Hatton) and number two, Senchenko is one of the only men in the world to have been stopped by Paulie Malignaggi!

It was a cuts related technical stoppage, not a KO…obviously.

Senchenko is a good fighter, I doubt he is at an elite level, but he is not going to lie down for anyone. Tough, rugged, durable, he can box a bit; he will be a good test for Kell.

But Kell is a better boxer, and he has the same KO ratio as Senchenko, around 65%, I think Kell will be hitting harder on the night; he looks more like a junior middleweight now.

Brook will come in looking to do damage here, he needs to. What with injuries, bad performances, different setbacks along the way, if Brook comes in with the right frame of mind, I think he stops Senchenko in the last couple of rounds.

Really, we need to see Kell against world class opponents, so we can judge where he is, because at the moment I think people are unsure as to whether he can go all the way.

We need to see what level Kell Brook is at and the way he deals with Senchenko will be a good indication.