Boxing Social spoke to former IBF Welterweight Champion, Kell Brook, to discuss his life after boxing, his new rivalry with Conor Benn and a potential return to the sport.
In the interview, in association with freebets.com, Brook also made his prediction ahead of Errol Spence vs Terence Crawford and showed respect to his beloved trainer, Brendan Ingle, after visiting his home in a recent documentary.
Over a year since your retirement, how fast has that time gone and how have you dealt with the last 12 months?
“Yeah it has gone pretty fast, it’s been a rollercoaster. At the beginning it was rough, it was hard, but I have found myself and I’m just free. I’m high on life, I’m in Dubai now, just living my best life.”
What is your motivation these days?
“I think my purpose is to help other people who are struggling. I’ve got my hobbies, I’ve got things that I like to do in my down time, I’ve got a lot of time, you see, so I keep the day busy and keep doing things that I enjoy doing. I’m good in the gym, helping people on my way through the day and that’s me.”
What advice do you have for other fighters about retirement?
“I think it’s hard, people have got a different lives, even though they are boxers, they have got different lives with different things going on. I’d probably advise that, if they knew they were coming to the end of their career, to have something in place, something where they have got a routine, where they need to get up every day. When you’ve got plenty of money and you don’t need to get up, you get into bad habits and you end up really down and depressed, it’s not the way to live your life.”
“You need to carry on going into the gym because, when you have been going to the gym for so long, for that amount of years, your body actually needs it. You need to let them endorphins out every day or every other day, you need a routine, even if it is taking your kids to school, going to the gym, even going to a coffee shop at a certain time and meeting someone every day, you just need a routine.”
Do you find it difficult to motivate yourself to go to the gym without having a fight lined up?
“Not these days, it’s just a part of my routine now. I take my girls to school and I drop down the road and get in the gym. I have a good crack with the lads and train hard and I feel amazing after I’ve finished and had a shower. I can continue with my day, knowing that I have looked after myself that day, got a sweat on and got my heart rate up.”
“Even if I’ve gone into the gym and took people on the pads, showed them a few different things and tips on how to improve as a fighter.”
There’s been plenty of rumours about a return to the ring, but as of now there’s no confirmation that you’re necessarily out of retirement. Is it more a case that there’s only a couple of fights you’d get up for and otherwise you’ll stay away from lacing up the gloves again?
“Yeah it has to be them fights, we all know what they are, it would have to be them kind of fights, them exciting ones. I know that it is going to generate fans, the excitement, the fans not knowing who is going to win and that is what I love.”
“I love performing in front of the fans, I love challenging myself, getting in great condition for a fight and a fight date. The right fight at the right time and you could see me return to that ring.”
One of those fights that you’ve been linked to is against Conor Benn. You had a bit of a run in with him recently, what does that rivalry stem from?
“People kept saying to me ‘was it staged or not?’, it definitely weren’t staged, I was having an interview and he’s bumping into me. He’s got a chip on his shoulder you know, so it went off, he got the reaction that he wanted. He keeps calling me an old man and saying that he will do this and that to me and that is fight talk where I come from.”
“This young pup coming through and thinking that he can take me? He has not been in with anyone like me. It’s a different kettle of fish to the level of opposition that he has been facing.”
“That’s a fight that excites me, but obviously he needs to get his own situation sorted out, with the ban that he is on. I’m a licensed boxer with the BBBofC, I box under them and that is the way forward. I wouldn’t want to just fight him without that being in place. So, if he can get approved and get their decision turned over, if he gets his issues sorted out, you could end up seeing me and Conor Benn in the ring.”
How do you rate Benn’s ability as a fighter? Do you believe he can go on to win a world title?
“Yeah I do, you know. He’s definitely got the bit between his teeth, he wants it, I see elements of his Dad in there with him when I have sparred with him. He’s aggressive, he’s strong, he’s definitely got the fire in his belly to go all the way.”
“I just think that he has not been tested and I think that he can bite off more than he can chew, especially if he gets in there with me.”
“I think that, after the shoving and the pushing went on, the fans do want to see that fight now. They do want to see me and Conor in that ring. Once we find out what his situation is, in the next week or so, maybe we can sit down with his team and make it happen.”
Would Conor Benn be a hero vs villain clash now?
“Yeah, I think it is what it is. He is going to be the villain in the fight, the way that he is carrying himself in his situation, but it doesn’t matter to me if I am the bad guy or the good guy, it’s a fight at the end of the day and us fighters come to fight.”
Is there any truth to a potential Manny Pacquiao fight in the UAE?
“I think you need to check your sources. Listen, these names all get mentioned to me, Manny Pacquiao, Conor Benn, Liam Smith, [Chris] Eubank, it’s just talk. Unless somebody comes to the table and has a real sit down and means business, we can talk about it all day, but unless we get sat down with the people that can make it happen, that’s how we get fights made.”
You talk about a big fight with a big name and a big payday, but say you take that fight and you win, what’s the next move?
“It’s one of them isn’t it. Us fighters, we don’t know when to hang them up. It’s one fight at a time and then when my parents, and other people that are close to me, sit me down and say ‘listen, you didn’t look great in that fight, it is looking like your age has caught up with you’, that’s when you listen to them. I feel fresh, I feel young, I’m still doing what these twenty-two and twenty-three-year-olds are doing in the gym, I’m beating them on the runs, I’m manhandling them. I’ve still got it and I’ve got the experience as well. Like I say, I’m fresh and I’m ready to go!”
Saying that you’re fresh and maybe not itching for a fight, but ready for a fight, do you regret announcing your retirement?
“Not really, because I needed to go through what I’ve been through. Now, if I do come back and then retire again, I know that I’ve got the tools that I need to stay free and be happy forever. I won’t go into a dark place. I’ve got the tools there, I’ve got the things to occupy myself and to keep myself happy forever. Helping people is a major one of them tools and I’m happy, I’m content and if I fight again and if I don’t fight again, I’ll be a happy guy.”
Your retirement came after what was ultimately a perfect last fight against Amir Khan. How do you look back on that night?
“I look back on that night with a smile on my face, it’s been a long, long, long time coming. He kept that fight away from the fans for so many years, I just hope that they [the fans] got what they were wanting, me dominating Khan, beating him up from pillar to post from round one, that’s what they wanted and that’s what they got.”
“That’s what I said would happen for years and that’s what happened. That’s what we got, we got me pummelling and humbling Amir Khan. I told everyone that that’s what would happen and I delivered it in a fantastic night. Journalists say to me, to this day, that they have been all over the world and seen some massive fights and some massive names, but they have never been to a show with such an atmosphere.”
“People were thinking it was a 50/50 fight, but I knew when I turned up on that night, that I had done everything that I could do to win that fight in the way that I did win. There was no doubt in my mind that I weren’t going to do what I did that night.”
Is there a part of you that wishes that fight happened sooner so that people gave you more credit for the win or are you just glad that it happened at all?
“That’s the thing, people say ‘yeah, but he was past it’, I’m past it! I’ve had a lot of fights. That [outcome] would have happened at any point in this grudge match between me and him, all them years that all the talk has been happening. The same outcome would have happened, the fresh Amir Khan when I’m fresher, if anything it would have happened a lot earlier. One hundred percent I believe that the same outcome would have happened, no doubt about that.”
“I told him I had his number, timing beats speed and that’s what happened.”
Since that fight, news broke of Khan’s positive drugs test. How did it feel when that news broke out and have you spoke to him about it?
“I probably went off a bit wrong when I found out. I knew about it at the same time that everybody else knew about it. I went mad with Ben Shalom for not telling me, I was going crazy with the BBBofC asking why they hadn’t told me. It’s a sport where you can legally get killed and then he has failed a drug test.”
“However, looking back now, and reading about the drug that he was on, it’s a drug that you get the benefits from, months and months after the fight. Me and him got tested many, many, many times for that fight and he passed all them, he failed on fight night. It makes me believe his explanation, he’s obviously picked something up at the last minute.”
“You would not get any benefit from taking that drug on fight night. You could see in his performance, it didn’t help him out in any way, did it? He got beat up in there. So, I don’t think that he was on drugs in that fight, I don’t believe it, I believe what he is saying.”
Having fought both, who do you give the edge to in Spence vs Crawford?
“It’s a fight where I’ve been in with both of them and it’s a funny one because I could get this wrong, the reason being that styles make fights. A positive for Spence is that he is a natural southpaw and I think that may cause Crawford some problems. But, I’m going for Crawford to win that fight, he’s a switch-hitter, he’s like a surgeon in there, very precise, great finisher and he is a great fighter.”
“They’re both great fighters, but I’d have to lean towards Crawford, he’s been more active than Spence, who has been in a big car crash, he’s not really been active like Crawford. There is only small percentages in it, but I do lean towards Crawford in that fight.”
What impressed you the most about each man and who hit harder between the two?
“I think that Spence has probably got the stronger dig, stronger puncher in there. But Crawford is very surprising, he catches you by surprise and they’re the shots that can knock you out. He’s got some pop as well.”
“It’s hard to split them, yeah he is stronger is Spence, but Crawford is more of a surgeon. He’s more precise, he’s more cute, accurate, switch-hitting, but don’t get me wrong they’re both unbelievable, pound-for-pound greats, as well.”
Who’s hit you the hardest in the ring?
“Golovkin.”
Finally, I saw the recent documentary where you travelled to the area where Brendan Ingle grew up. How did it that trip make you feel?
“Unbelievable, seeing where Brendan was born and where he worked, meeting his brother and being in the house where he lived, this is a guy who has spent a lot of time with me, guiding me into becoming the man that I am today. Without him, I don’t know what I’d be doing, without going into that gym in Wincobank, him spending time with me and learning my trade through him.”
“The guy is a modern-day prophet, what Brendan has done for not just myself, but a lot of people, he is an inspiration and a legend, for me.”