A few days ago it was announced that Kell Brook had suffered a double stress fracture in his foot just a month ahead of his impending fight with Devon Alexander. At the time, it had not been decided if Brook would be forced to withdraw or not, though the decision to remove himself from the contest seemed inevitable. Well, today the inevitable has come true. Brook's promoter Eddie Hearn has announced that Brook will have to back out of the May 18 date due to the foot injury.
Here, from World Boxing News, is what Hearn had to say:
"Kell has recently developed pain in his right foot. Following specialist review and investigations over the last ten days he has been diagnosed with a stress fracture of his right fourth metatarsal and a further injury of his right navicular, both of which require on-going treatment including withdrawal from full training.
"As a result of these injuries and the time required to recover he has been advised that he will not be medically fit to fight on May 18.
"Obviously this is a huge blow and Kell is devastated but we have had to make the right decision for Kell Brook the fighter. We will speak with Golden Boy and hope to reschedule the bout in the near future."
So, yeah, the fight's not happening....again. It's a tough break but whatchya gonna do?
It's been reported that Alexander still plans on fighting on May 18, though the opponent will likely be a soft touch given the lack of time between now and then. Hearn says he would like to reschedule the fight (again), but one has to wonder if that's an exercise in futility. I don't know if I have ever heard of a fight being scheduled for a fourth time.
Like so much in boxing, we will just have to wait and see.