Last month, Kell Brook had his first fight in the 154 division against Sergey Rabchenko, winning by knockout in the 2nd round.
Brook now looks ready to become a two-weight world champion after a previous reign at 147.
Having fought Brook himself, Matthew Hatton reminisced about the time they shared the ring.
“Kell is another former foe, and having fought the likes of Canelo, I know exactly how good these guys are. When I fought Kell Brook he was another fighter who I was so impressed with and he’s since become a world champion at welterweight,” Hatton exclusively told World Boxing News.
“Personally I’ve thought for some time now that Kell is more of a super-welterweight and its something that I’ve always thought for the past year that it would be the ideal weight. It’s where we’ll see the very best of him.
“Obviously he lost the fight to Golovkin and it was a huge step up. I said at the time I didn’t think it was the right move but his debut at 154 was against a good fighter.
“People jumped on the bandwagon and say; ‘Rabchenko wasn’t this, he was an awful champion and he was a fringe world class fighter’ but he’s a good fighter.
“Kell Brook is nicknamed ‘The Special One’ and he showed that he is special. I think in that fight we saw what Kell can do, there was nothing new there and we could see exactly what he’s capable of.”
After back to back fights against Gennady Golovkin and Errol Spence Jr., Brook suffered eye socket injuries from both fights and the acid test will come when he faces a puncher.
“Whether he is damaged from the Golovkin fight, Rabchenko wasn’t good enough to let us see that but Kell Brook is a special fighter.
“Looking at the names in 154, can he pick up a world title? I’m extremely confident and I’d put him in there with any of the guys at 154.
“I strongly think that Kell will become a two-weight world champion because I think he’s at the perfect weight for himself,” Hatton concluded.
Chandler Waller is a staff writer for World Boxing News. Follow Chandler on Twitter @ChandlerWaller
