Brook vs Rabchenko Odds – This Saturday night former IBF world welterweight champion Kell Brook returns to action as he faces Sergey Rabchenko in Sheffield. The fight is the main event of Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing’s card at the Sheffield Arena, and the main fights on the card are set to air on SKY in the U.K.
Brook enters the ring a heavy favorite against Rabchenko. On skill level alone, Brook is head and shoulders above Rabchenko, who is tough but brings a rudimentary game. For his part, Rabchenko is 29-2 overall with 22 knock outs, and he has fought and scored wins in England more than half a dozen times in his career, so he has some useful experience on his resume. Unfortunately for Rabchenko, the two most recognizable names on his resume are Anthony Mundine and Tony Harrison and he lost both of those fights. Brook is head and shoulders above those two men, so on paper he should have no trouble with Rabchenko.
But Brook is going to be facing some demons on Saturday besides the Belorussian with the gloves on. Brook (36-2) is a former world welterweight champion who is moving up to the super welterweight class in this fight. That adjustment should go well for Brook, as Brook was considered a huge welterweight and he was beginning to be stressed by the weight cut.
The problem for Brook will come when he enters the ring and the bell sounds. Brook is 0-2 in his last two fights and in both of those fights he suffered broken orbital bones, once to the left side and once to the right. It is hard to think of a more traumatic injury than an orbital break for a boxer. The sport entails you getting hit in the face and many fighters have retired after having suffered just one break of this nature.
In September of 2016 Brook moved up to middleweight to face Gennady Golovkin, and to put it simply, Golovkin broke his face in that fight. Brook received a payday and positive reviews for taking on Triple G, but perhaps he came back too soon last May when he returned to welterweight to face Errol Spence Jr. Not only did Brook lose his IBF world title to the powerful American, he also had his other eye socket cracked.
This is his first fight back since then and though he has been through his training camp and sparring, it will be interesting to see how Brook reacts if Rabchenko lands to his face with any force.
Those questions will follow Brook beyond this fight if he emerges with a win. Brook is not staying in the game to stay busy, he fancies another run at a title and some big money fights at this point in his career. Do not forget that Rabchenko is considered a soft match for his return. At 154 pounds, the champions are Erislandy Lara, Jermell Charlo, Jarrett Hurd and Sadam Ali and Brook will be looking to win Saturday so that he can crash their party, perhaps as soon as his next fight.
Sat 3/3 – Sheffield Arena -Brook vs Rabchenko Odds – Sheffield, England
Super Welterweight 12 rounds
Sergey Rabchenko +1300 o9½ -135
Kell Brook -2150 u9½ +115
Super Bantamweight 12 rounds –
Gavin McDonnell +260
Gamal Yafai -350
Heavyweight 12 rounds –
Lenroy Thomas +230
David Allen -290
Featherweight –
Irving Berry +2800
Kid Galahad -7000
Brook vs Rabchenko Odds / Check out more boxing news and features at The Sweet Science. Also, check out the GMS Odds Review of Deontay Wilder and Luis Ortiz, also for this Saturday.
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