By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated Kell Brook of England will be defending his IBF World Welterweight title this Saturday, March 22 against southpaw Jo Jo Dan of Canada. Dan is the number one mandatory challenger who hails from Romania, but now fights out of Canada. The 12-round bout will be taking place at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, England and can be seen in the USA on Showtime and on Sky Sports in Britain.
Brook won the title with a close majority decision win over American Shawn Porter in August and his first defence comes in his hometown, where he hasn’t fought since October of 2013 when he stopped Vyacheslav Senchenko. Brook’s career almost came to an end last September after being stabbed during an attack while on holiday in Europe.
The 29-year-old champion will climb through the ring ropes with a perfect record of 33-0 with 22 Kos while the 33-year-old Dan of Montreal is 34-2 and has 18 Kos to his name. Brook’s goal is to meet the winner of the Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather bout in Las Vegas on May 2 and will have to score a convincing victory over Dan to have any chance of that. He’s also hoping to take on fellow countryman and former world champion Amir Khan in the future.
Brook recently told the press, “I am at the stage now that I need big fights to get me excited. I am always pushing myself in the gym and I am always competitive in the gym, but fights with the likes of Khan really motivate me and put a spring in my step to get in the gym and push on. Brook is a somewhat underrated boxer who has decent power and good skills. He surprised Porter last year and fully earned his victory and the title.
He turned pro back in 2004 and has fought 167 rounds since then He stands 5-foot-9 and has a 69-inch reach. He has a couple of wins over Carson Jones and has also beaten the likes of Matthew Hatton and Lovemore N’dou. The first time he really stepped up in class and took on a Grade A opponent was when he met Porter and he passed that test with flying colours.
Dan is just slightly taller than Brook and has a 70.5-inch reach. He turned pro in 2004 and has 227 rounds under his belt. He was beaten by Selcuk Aydin by 12-round unanimous decision in 2011 and also dropped a split decision to him a year earlier. He has a win over Steve Forbes and a couple of split decisions over Kevin Bizier. He has a solid chin and decent skills to go along with average power. He’ll be stepping up in class against Brook and will need to keep the champion on the back foot.
Prediction
Unless Brook’s stabbing injury last year hasn’t healed properly then he should be able to outbox Dan and perhaps even stop him late in the fight. If he fights like he did against Porter then this should be a decisive victory. Dan is a pretty durable guy and should have his moments, but he doesn’t possess the boxing skills and power of Brook. Look for the champion to retain his title at home by decision or late stoppage.
