By Edward Chaykovsky

Promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport is not expecting an easy night for IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (35-0, 24KOs), who on October 24th will defend his title against dangerous Diego Chaves (23-2-1, 19KOs) at the Sheffield Arena.

Originally, Hearn was trying to secure Brandon Rios for the date. The two sides were unable to reach an agreement. A few weeks later a deal was reached with Chaves.

Chaves fought Rios last year and lost the fight by disqualification. He was ahead on the scorecards, with one round to go, when the referee called the fight Four months later he fought current WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley to a twelve round split draw.

Hearn says the fight with Chaves is much tougher than Rios and even tougher than Brook traveling to the United States for his title winning task over Shawn Porter last August in Carson, California.

“In some ways this is a no-win situation for Kell. He is under more pressure in this fight than when he went to America to beat Shawn Porter,” said Hearn to the Sheffield Star.

“Chaves is a tougher fight than Porter. Chaves might not be as big a name as Brandon Rios but Kell would walk through Rios and Chaves is a much more difficult fight. Kell doesn’t always get the credit he deserves.

“When he beat Jo Jo Dan [fourth round stoppage], people said his opponent wasn’t an elite boxer - but nobody had ever done to him what Kell had. You should have seen Dan’s face after the first round, it was as if he was saying: ‘This guy is a beast.’”