It is now official, IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook will be facing Diego Chaves this coming October 24 at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, England.
This will be Brook’s third defense for the year, leaving him one shy of the promised four-fight title defense that promoter Eddie Hearn has planned for the Briton.
The meet should be an interesting one considering both fighters carry contrasting styles headed into the October tiff.
Brook last took the ring in May against fellow countryman Frank Gavin. Brook hardly made an impression but still came out with an impressive sixth round TKO win over Gavin in a fight that was held at the O2 Arena.
On the other end, Chaves will be making a return after almost 10 years out of the squared circle. The Argentinian brawler last faced Timothy Bradley Jr. which ended in controversial fashion.
The bout surprisingly ended in a Split Draw, despite the fact that Bradley seemingly dominated Chaves. Looking at CompuBox punch statistics, Bradley was credited of landing 225 of his 572 punches (39%) while Chaves landed 152 of 570 (27%).
Despite the statistics, the outcome of the match stays and now Chaves is looking to come out with a win to erase all controversies from his last fight.
He is confident he has the perfect plan to wear down Brook. He bares that he will use his power punches to the max and aim for Brook’s body, claiming that the IBF champ is easily bothered with such.
For Brook, he expecting an all-out war and knows how dangerous Chaves is. Aside from that, he is confident he can weather the challenge Chaves brings though that remains to be seen.
The set fight somehow makes up for the botched negotiations between Brook and Brandon Rios. After both camps failed to come to terms due to money and rematch clause disputes, the Brook vs. Chaves fight somehow comes a notch below the hype to get Brook more attention.
One fighter that Brook wants to face is another Briton, Amir Khan. While Khan initially said that he would be interested in facing Brook, the latter must first face top names before they sit down to talk about a possible tiff.
Khan has criticized Brook for not facing big name fighters and Chaves is not exactly someone considered in that niche. An impressive performance or win could probably goat Khan into a possible fight with Brook though all that remains to be seen.