Shane Brock was knocked out in a shock result on the Box on the Docks fight night at Docklands on Friday.By Marc McGowan
A WORLD title bout is still on Cranbourne boxer Shane Brock’s agenda despite being knocked out on the Box on the Docks fight night at Docklands on Friday.
Brock (eight wins, three losses and one draw) was hoping to use his match-up with former Tanzanian Commonwealth Games representative Omari Kimweri (two wins and one loss) as a springboard to greater success, but produced what his trainer Steve Kerr described as a ‘career-worst’ performance.
The 28-year-old knocked Kimweri down in the second round and had the better of the early going, before proceedings went awry.
Rather than continuing in the same vein, Brock instead looked for the knockout punch that would hand him victory and paid the consequences.
Kimweri took charge of the slugfest, sending the local champion to the canvas in the fourth stanza before stopping Brock midway through the sixth and final round.
“I just didn’t box at all. I more got suckered into brawling and didn’t box at all, which is credit to him,” Brock said.
“My footwork wasn’t working through the fight and there are no excuses, but I got hit in my ear two months prior to the fight and I had a lack of sparring.
“The timing side of it was a bit out, but there are no excuses.”
Kerr had trouble recognising Brock as the same boxer who won the Australian Flyweight Title in October.
“That was a shade of what Shane is. He did everything wrong and was still three points up going into the last round,” Kerr said.
“He fought the worst fight of his career. We just want to forget about this one.
“Fighters have been knocked out or stopped before and still gone on and won a world title.”
After a tough preparation, Brock has taken a break this week before meeting with Kerr tomorrow (Friday).
That meeting will decide where the slugger heads with his next fight, but another Brian Amatruda and Barry Michael show in July looks likely at this stage.
“Leading up before the fight, he was hitting them so hard and was really sharp, but once he started he did some stupid things that he doesn’t normally do,” Kerr said.
“He’ll come back better than ever and we’ll get him back on track.
“There are good people supporting Shane. They’re staying loyal, so we’ll get him back on track and the next one he’ll be back to what we know he can do.”
Brock is also keen to atone for Friday night’s effort and thanked Kerr and fitness guru Kenny Adams for their training and support.
