Another candidate to face Manny

While the consensus is either Juan Manuel Marquez or Timothy Bradley will be Manny Pacquiao’s next opponent, tentatively on April 12 in Las Vegas, another name has surfaced in the candidates list. He’s No. 4 in The Ring Magazine’s welterweight honor roll, just a notch under Pacquiao and over the likes of Devon Alexander, Robert (The Ghost) Guerrero and Adrien Broner.

Kell Brook, 27, has appeared in a boxing website survey asking fans to choose Pacquiao’s next foe. He’s definitely no slouch. Last October, he dropped Ukraine’s Vyascheslav Senchenko twice en route to scoring a fourth round stoppage in his biggest win ever. Senchenko used to be trained by Freddie Roach and once reigned as WBA welterweight champion. He sent Ricky Hatton into permanent retirement last year.

Like Bradley and Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Brook is undefeated with a 31-0 record, including 21 KOs. He has fought almost exclusively in the UK. Only once did Brook venture away from home and he stopped Luis Galarza in the fifth round in Atlantic City two years ago.

Brook is ranked No. 82 among The Ring’s top 100 pound-for-pound fighters. A fighter on the rise, he’s a hero in the UK and a bright hope for a world championship. Brook’s disposal of Senchenko clearly established him as a legitimate contender in the Pacquiao stakes. He’s in line to face the winner of this Saturday’s Alexander-Shawn Porter fight for the IBF welterweight crown. But if there’s an opportunity to face Pacquiao, Brook will no doubt grab it.

Confidence is something Brook doesn’t lack in. “I want to be a world champion dominating the division,” he said, quoted by Paul Wheeler in London’s Boxing News. “I want everyone to know my name because I’m a great fighter. I’ll take on all comers and I’ll beat them all. I want to be known as the people’s champion because I’m in exciting fights that people want to come and watch.”

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Pacquiao, of course, has always been known as the people’s champion from when he took out Marco Antonio Barrera to gain lineal recognition as world featherweight titleholder in 2003. It didn’t matter which governing body sanctioned his title fights because Pacquiao knew that whatever belt he wore carried the mark of global acceptance. Curiously, that’s the recognition that Brook craves for.

“From a young age, I’ve always wanted to be a world champion, nothing less,” he told Wheeler. “I’d like to unify the division before moving up in order to win world titles at multiple weights. That would be my ultimate goal. I want to stamp my mark on boxing and go down as a top champion.” If that’s Brook’s goal, he’ll no doubt have to go through obstacles like Pacquiao or Marquez or Bradley or Mayweather before achieving it.

Brook was once managed by Frank Warren and is now handled by Eddie Hearn of Matchroom. “Me and Eddie have got a great relationship, as have all of us in the team,” he said. “When we go to events, we all have a laugh and a good crack. Everyone gets on like a family. It’s unbelievable to work with people that look out for each other and have a close bond. We get on like a house on fire. When one of the team wins a fight, everyone else gets a high from the victory. That’s a good thing.”

Brook said he’s the next big thing to come out of Sheffield whose other boxing stars were Naseem Hamed, Clinton Woods and Ryan Rhodes. “It’s good to represent the Steel City and the UK,” continued Brook in the Wheeler story. “When I was younger, I remember watching Hamed, Woods and Rhodes coming up through the ranks. Now, it’s my time. I’ve looked at what they’ve done over the years and taken something from each of their styles. I’ve learned loads from the successes they’ve had and from some of the mistakes they’ve made.”

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One of Brook’s toughest fights was against Oklahoma’s Carson Jones in July last year. He was in total command in the first half of the bout then wilted as Jones turned on the heat in the late going. Brook escaped with a majority decision. “It was the heart that got me through that fight, the will to win, the will to succeed,” he said, quoted by John Dennen. “I’ve shown that I’ve got a big heart, I can take a shot. All of them wrapped together, with a broken nose, a lot of blood. I proved my heart. It was a good thing proving to myself when it does get tough, when it does get that bad, I can dig really deep. Dig in deep and grind it out.”

A year later, Brook battled Jones in a rematch and this time, the outcome was beyond doubt. Jones was floored in the second and counted out in the eighth.

“There are all kinds of huge fights out there for Kell,” said Hearn, quoted by Wheeler. “As well as the winner of Alexander-Porter, I know the Amir Khan fight can happen if he doesn’t face Mayweather. I’ve spoken to (Golden Boy’s) Richard Schaefer about Adrien Broner, too. I reckon we could get him over here, maybe in May in Sheffield.” Brook, nicknamed the Special One, is being groomed for big things in 2014. Hearn failed to mention Pacquiao in his wish list but you can be sure when it’s time to pick the Filipino’s next foe, Brook will be a candidate.