By Ian S Palmer
England’s Kell Brook will duke it out with in Hector David Saldivia of Argentina in an elimination bout for the IBF Welterweight Championship on Oct 20. Brook will have the vociferous British crowd behind him as the bout takes place at the MotorPoint Arena in his hometown of Sheffield. Brook is unbeaten no far in his career and sports a record of 28-0 along with 18 KOs. Saldivia is a force to be reckoned with as he has a lot of punching power and a 41-2 record with 32 KOs.
Brook is anxious for the British fans to support him as he sees this fight as a continuation of the sporting rivalry between Britain and Argentina. He said he’d really like to pay back Argentinean sports fans for the infamous goal that Diego Maradona scored against England during soccer’s World Cup tournament in Mexico in 1986. If you don’t remember it, Maradona punched the ball into the net with his hand in Argentina’s 2-1 quarterfinal victory in the ‘Hand of God’ incident.
The Englishman has a slight two year age advantage on Saldivia as he’s just 26 years old with his opponent being 28. He’s in for a tough battle though because the Argentinean possesses quite a bit of power. Brook claims to be ready for the challenge though and is looking forward to it. He also faced a tough test back in July from Carson Jones of the U.S. and managed to narrowly pass it with a majority decision. Brook has been fighting as a pro since 2004 and while he’s faced some good boxers in his career, he hasn’t fought an elite one. The best of his opponents include Lovemore Ndou, Matthew Hatton, and Philip Kotey. He possesses decent power, but isn’t known as a heavy puncher.
Saldivia hasn’t faced world-ranked opponents either since turning pro back in 2004. Most of his fights have been in Argentina and he wasn’t too successful when he ventured to Las Vegas for a bout in 2010 as he was stopped in the very first round by Said Ouali. Jorge Daniel Miranda also stopped him in the fifth round in 2007. With Saldivia, you usually get a knockout either way.
When it comes to boxing skills, Brook has him beat. However, Saldivia’s power means he’s never more than one punch away from victory, no matter what the scorecards say. Brook’s chin may get a workout and it will have to stand up to the pressure if he’s going to win. He needs to use his superior footwork and speed to stay out of his opponent’s power range.
Saldivia needs to catch Brook and make him fight, because it’s doubtful that he can outbox him. Brook will need to make Saldivia respect his power so will have to come down off his toes once in awhile. Since the bout’s in England and Brook is the better boxer, he should pull this one out of the hat.
