It’s been an incredibly tough 18 months for Sheffield’s Kell Brook who has fought his fair share of demons in some dark times after his ill fated attempt at Gennady Golovkin’s middleweight crown, then a humbling at the hands of Errol Spence Jnr in defence of his IBF welterweight crown.
Brook showed a great deal of character and temperament to get back in the ring in front of a home town crowd and score a crushing second round win over former sparring partner Sergey Rabchenko.
This was very much a confidence builder for Brook after bad injuries to both eyes and tough losses at the hands of Spence Jnr and Golovkin. He started the contest a little tense and stiff looking but quickly found his range and started to land cleanly mid way through the first with solid well timed jabs, and a couple stiff rights at the end of the session.
He picked the tempo up in the second and Rabchenko never really responded before a well timed long right pierced the defence followed by an excellent right uppercut and right hook that dropped the Belarusian for the full count midway through the round.
https://twitter.com/BoxingKingMedia/status/970421368176152576
A good finish fair to say, but…
Rabchenko showed very little in the way of a challenge if I’m honest. This was obviously a tune up and a chance to test the injuries against a non too dangerous opponent who hadn’t had a decent win since beating Welshman Bradley Pryce for the European crown five years ago.
Brook is back, and it is now up to Amir Khan to deliver his side of the bargain. Khan faces little known Canadian Phil Lo Greco at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on Saturday April 21st in a welterweight clash in his long awaited return to action.
As for Kell Brook, it’s good to see him back to fitness, in a good state of mind, and winning fights once again, and with the buzz surrounding the Ingle fighters he might just be lifted to the heights once more.
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