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Brook is no 'Jack the Lad'
KELL BROOK'S brush with the courts and electronic tagging has done the boxer a power of good - and could even help make him a world champion.
That's the view of trainer Dominic Ingle, who is trying to pilot the 24-year-old Sheffielder into the golden footsteps of Naseem Hamed, Junior Witter and Johnny Nelson.
Ingle was bitterly disappointed when the unbeaten Owlerton welterweight appeared before a Barnsley judge for assault, a hearing last month which saw him subjected to a curfew tagging order. But the trainer said: "The case and the publicity in The Star finally made Kell aware of the position he is in, the potential he has, and what he's got to lose.
"You could say that it has been a long time coming. While he has never been a Jack-the-Lad, he has gone out with his mates every so often and got drunk and found himself in trouble. Tagging has kept him in at nights (8pm curfew) and has been a positive thing. It has given him time to think about what he should be focusing on."
Brook faces his biggest test on September 18 when he fights Michael Jennings in a WBO world title eliminator at Birmingham. And the restrictions on his social life have increased his chances of success over the 32-year-old former WBU champ, says Ingle.
"He is five or six pounds lighter than he normally is at this stage before a fight. He's training a lot better. Kell is first in the gym in the morning and first back in the afternoon. I wouldn't have said this about him a while ago, but if he becomes world champion, the way he is now, I can see him staying that for a very long time to come
"But regardless of what happens in the Jennings fight, I cannot see him going back into his old ways."
Despite the hype associated with 21-straight wins, Ingle admits the reigning British champion's career has been a 'slow-burner.'
"He turned pro at 18 and we'd expected him to be a serious champion by 21 like Naz and Ryan Rhodes had been before him.
"In ability terms, I'd put Kell between those two. But he didn't keep to the schedule and left our gym for a while. We did our bit, Frank Warren (promoter) did his. The only person not fulfilling his side of the bargain was Kell Brook. Now, though, he accepts his job is to train hard for 12 weeks and he's in fantastic shape."
Brook added the WBO Inter-Continental title to his honours in March. He has a 66% KO rate, compared with Jennings' 44.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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