Brook, Hearn Agree the Time is Right to Move Up to 154 Pounds

[Ruthless-RKO]

Now that he has lost the IBF welterweight title in the ring, not by giving it up, Kell Brook seems more agreeable to the idea of moving up to 154 pounds.

The former champion told Sky Sports News on Sunday that his next fight might be the appropriate time to make a permanent move up from 147 pounds. The 31-year-old Brook has fought almost exclusively at welterweight since he made his pro debut in September 2004.

“I think the time is now maybe to move up,” said Brook, who lost his 147-pound title to Errol Spence Jr. on Saturday night in Sheffield, England, Brook’s hometown. “I’ve been making welterweight since I was a teenager. … I went up to middleweight in my last fight. I put a lot of muscle on and it was so hard to get to welterweight.”

Now that Brook has suffered back-to-back TKO losses at middleweight and welterweight, Hearn wants Brook to establish himself as a junior middleweight.

“It’s time for Kell to move up to 154,” Hearn told iFL TV following his loss to Spence. “He made the weight – no excuses. He made it well. Obviously, it was a struggle, but you know, just as much a struggle as before. But, you know, he’s in his 30s now and he’s made that weight for a long time. And I feel like, as I felt like before the Errol Spence fight, he’d be a real great fighter at 154 pounds. But now he’s got to have another operation. This is boxing. It’s a brutal game. So, you know, get that done next week. And then hopefully get one in before the end of the year and try and set up a big world title fight in 2018.”