Self explanatory. In the last 25 years, who's the best welterweight you would pick Brook to beat? I think we can safely eliminate the likes of DLH, Pac, Tito, Mosley, Whitaker, Floyd, and Quartey. I don't think anybody in their right mind would favor Brook over those guys, assuming they were in their primes. Could Brook beat Forrest, Tall Paul, Mayorga, Margarito, Cotto, Clottey, Bradley, ect.? Personally, I think the answer is Thurman. For the longest time, I said that Brook was a better fighter than Thurman, and would beat him H2H. I think he would have beaten Thurman prime-for-prime, and would still beat Thurman now. Opinions?
I'd pick Brook over Thurman, yeah. I'd take him over Oba Carr. The guy's in that second tier of fighters would've been too good for him, although he would've definitely been competitive. Call me crazy, but I think Brook prior to GGG is even money with Spence. I had them more or less even at the time of the stoppage from what I can remember, and the Brook who fought Porter was pretty much better at everything by virtue of being fresher and having not had his face smashed in half, nor having been stabbed in the leg. He'd never beat Bud, but I do think he'd have given him a much better fight. As it was he gave Bud a few issues.
I think Brook could beat Yory Boy Campas but nowhere close to the dominant fashion that Tito did. I’d give him a chance to catch Cory Spinks with something that possibly takes him out too.
Brook is never beating Spence. Brook even on his best day is never Mr. Stamina, and even at his best Spence is more durable and has more dog in him. Down the stretch, Spence would outlast Brook 10/10 times.
Nah, that fight was seriously close. All Brook needs to do to win that is not get knocked out and win one more round clearly. I think a prime version definitely has that in him. As I said, I favour Spence, but it's a real close fight.
That's the point. Brook doesn't have it in him to win the type of grueling fight Spence dragged him into. You can tell even by his facial expressions and body language that he doesn't like wars. He likes measured fights where he has time to get off his arsenal, as the box bot gave him on Saturday. No matter the version, Spence's pace and body punching is gonna set him apart. Well, in simpler terms, Spence is just a better fighter.
But a quicker, fresher version would get dragged into the fight later and so Spence's bodywork would have less time to wear Brook down. He doesn't need to win the fight Spence would drag him into, he needs to win the technical battle before that, and he's shown he absolutely can do that. Plus, his durability has gone to shit. He was clearly tougher before his eye problems, so I don't think lasting the distance is an issue. Especially back when he wasn't struggling with the weight. Spence isn't just a better fighter, he's a tougher fighter. If he was a better fighter plain and simple, he wouldn't have been out-boxed by him in the early goings.
I’d still take Spence over Brook due to the styles. Spence would always force a war and Brook doesn’t have the stamina to stay at that pace for 12 rounds, whereas Spence does. I could see it being a little closer and maybe Brook doesn’t get stopped but I do see him visiting the canvas at some point. What about Brook vs Margarito?
It took Brook two tries to pound Carson Jones. I don't see how he has much to offer Spence, pre the Spence bout with the cartwheeling Ferrari. I think that he did beat the best welter that he could beat when he fought Porter, which puts him right there to beat Thurman.
That's exactly what I'm saying. At no point was Brook especially durable. As far as quickness? He was never especially quick either. The ONLY thing that had regressed on Brook when he fought Spence was his eye. Other than that, he was still his vintage self. It was the physical beating that Spence gave him that took a lot of him. He's never beating Spence. Even in some of his best performances, like against Senchenchko, he was badly wobbled. He never had the stamina nor the durability to handle the pace and body punching that the 2017 Spence put on him.
What I'm saying is all he needs to be is a little bit quicker, and a little bit more durable, and he can win that fight. Which is exactly what a younger, fresher, pre GGG Brook was. A little quicker and a little tougher. And even in that fight, he was quicker than Spence. I pick Spence, but it's a near 50/50.
We'll just have to disagree on Spence. Moving on, to answer PR's question, I think Margarito would grind Brook down and stop him. It'd be similar to the first Cotto fight. Brook doesn't have the handspeed, durability, physical strength, and stamina to pull off what Shane did. Plus, Mosley killed Margarito's body, and Brook is strictly a headhunter.
