How do you rate the UK fighters in the post Froch era?

Britains strongest divisions are Featherweight, Super Middleweight & Heavyweight

Heavyweights
Tyson Fury
Anthony Joshua
Dillian Whyte
David Haye
Tony Bellew
Hughie Fury
Daniel Dubois
Joe Joyce

Super Middleweight
Chris Eubank JR
James DeGale
Callum Smith
George Groves
John Ryder
Rocky Fielding
Martin Murray
Jamie Cox

Featherweights
Lee Selby
Carl Frampton
Scott Quigg
Kid Galahad
Reece Bellotti
Josh Warrington

 

Well, Kell turned pro quite young, so you have to expect he'd still be hanging around a good few years after Carl, who had a much longer amateur gestation. If it feels like he and Froch are of different eras, it has a certain amount to do with the aforementioned poor management of Brook's career. Froch wasn't moved that quickly himself, but Brook was kept treading water for spells of what seemed like forever. I've nothing against seasoning a fighter, but a lot of the matchups Brook was in didn't do much for him. I followed Kell since he turned pro (one of the few local guys with genuine worldbeater potential since Naz) and have been endlessly frustrated by the arc of his career.

 

That's a fair point, but I don't think Brook is shot yet, nor even close. I'd estimate he still has a good couple of years left, and that he was still in his prime in 2014 (even if we never quite saw it on the big stage, due to aforementioned poor management).

Froch meanwhile, definitely was already nearing shot in 2014, and I wouldn't be glad to see return except maybe for a one-off bit of low-stakes fan service, like a Kessler III. Seeing him defeated by an inferior talent (as we almost did with Groves) would be sad.

Lord, imagine that match with DeGale had ever materialized? And he lost? (easy to imagine given the state he was in near the end, and how effective Chunky is at finding an ugly way to outbox you by turning your own aggression on you?) ...and now he would have a loss to a guy that lost to Caleb Truax? ICK! I'm quite glad for the Cobra's sake he bowed out when he did.

 

A unbeaten Kell Brook doesn't even make the Top 5 British P4P and I'm a huge Kell Brook fan.

 

We don't even know he's ruined necessarily. A lot of people could be eating crow if he does well at 154.

Losses to a much larger Golovkin and in a war on, for good long stretches very even terms with Spence are nothing to be ashamed of, nor indicators he can't still make some noise.

 

I'd love to share the optimism, except I've always viewed Kell as a pure welterweight, so I'm not overly hopeful about the remainder of his career. Not to say that he can't compete 7lbs north, but that his greater potential was at welter in terms of truly establishing himself as a divisional boss. And in addition to the natural size of some of the top JMW's, I now wonder how much the damaging experiences of the last 18 months might come to bear on Brook's chances up there.

On the upside, Sadam Ali winning that strap gives Kell a more interesting route to two-weight glory than a bout with a stodgy, unappetizing Liam Smith (which would likely still happen after, assuming Brook beat Ali).

It'll be nice to see how he looks against Rabchenko. Tickets are going on sale in a few hours, so I think I'll attend that one.

Funnily enough, I passed comment on this matchup in another thread a day or so back. That's one fight, even in the late phase of Froch's career, that I wouldn't have feared for him in. DeGale plays around and poses too much in fights, takes too much time off, for me to pick him. He'd need to work much harder for 12 rounds than he likes to. Froch had skills enough to give DeGale issues even in the latter's freshest stanza, I never believed that Carl was at an immense technical deficit here, so James couldn't expect to play around with Froch for periods of a fight and win. Chunky's got a good fighting heart under duress, but the compound of fortitudinal intangibles Froch possesses has been proven in a variety of testing situations across a string of high level fights. Always felt they were different animals, only one winner for me.

It's a shame that it leaves out Bradley Skeete, who might not have won tons of acclaim or thrilled crowds much, but has grown into a really nice pure boxer. He needs to be introduced to world level soon, though, and welterweight is quite a naughty division right now - his lack of punching power handicaps him in the company of the top boys.

 

See, I think Brook, wonky eye socket and all, is still in peak form, or close enough to it, relatively speaking. He was IMO a very late bloomer, and vastly superior from Carson Jones II on when compared to his Jones I self and prior (from what I saw, though admittedly probably not as much as many of the Brits)

 

I don't agree that he's an entirely spent force, although I do share the pessimism to an extent, but it's nice to see Kell get some appreciation for his quality.