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Kell Brook, Jo Jo Dan Make Weight For Title Fight On Showtime
KELL BROOK, JO JO DAN MAKE WEIGHT FOR IBF WELTERWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT TOMORROW/SATURDAY FROM SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND LIVE ON SHOWTIME®
SHOWTIME BOXING INTERNATIONAL: Brook-Dan Airs at 6:15 p.m. ET/3:15 p.m. PT
SHEFFIELD, England (March 27, 2015) – Defending IBF Welterweight World Champion and hometown favorite Kell Brook and No. 1 challenger Jo Jo Dan made weight Friday.
Tomorrow/Saturday, SHOWTIME Sports® will present the Sky Sports telecast of Brook vs. Dan live on SHOWTIME(6:15 p.m. ET/3:15 p.m. PT) from the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, England. Sky Sports’ Jim Watt and Nick Hallingwill call the action from ringside.
Brook, of Sheffield, weighed 145½ pounds for his first title defense; Dan, a Romanian who now lives in Montreal, Canada, tipped the scales at 146¼ pounds.
Brook (33-0, 22 KOs) will defend the IBF 147-pound crown he took from previously undefeated Shawn Porter last August on SHOWTIME. Two weeks later, Brook was hospitalized with career-threatening injuries after getting stabbed in the thigh during a holiday in Spain.
Dan (34-2, 18 KOs) has won five in a row and eight of his last nine. He is the first Romanian- based Canadian to compete in a world title fight in England since Lucian Bute lost his IBF super middleweight crown to Carl Froch in five rounds in 2012.
Later Saturday evening on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING®(10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT), WBC Featherweight Champion Jhonny Gonzalez (57-8, 48 KOs), of Mexico City, will defend his 126-pound belt against quick-fisted southpaw Gary Russell Jr. (25-1, 14 KOs), of Capitol Heights, Md. In the co-feature, from The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, undefeated world-ranked Jermell “Iron Man” Charlo (25-0, 11 KOs), of Houston, faces the more experienced once-beaten Vanes Martirosyan (35-1-1, 21 KOs), of Glendale, Calif., in a 10-round bout for the WBO Intercontinental super welterweight championship.
(Selected press conference quotes):
KELL BROOK, IBF Welterweight Champion
“Every day has been a challenge, but we have done it. It’s amazing for me to defend the world title in Sheffield. I will be there knowing that I was meant to do this and I belong at the elite level.
“I’ve come a long way, fighting on undercards and in leisure centres to packing out this arena as a world champion. It took me a long time to get that belt and there is no way on earth that Jo Jo Dan is taking it off me, not a prayer. I am going in there to excite; you’ll see flash and power. I’ve kept the fans waiting too long to fight again and I owe them a big performance. If Jo Jo does what he says he’s going to do and bring the fight to me, the fans are in for a treat because you know how I fight.
“He looks like a man that has come to win. He’s the mandatory challenger like I was against [Shawn] Porter and I took the title off him. It’s every fighter’s dream to challenge for a world title and to take it, so I know that he’s put in 100 percent in the gym and he will leave it all in the ring tomorrow night.
“I would never overlook Jo Jo. It’s happened too many times in boxing that fighters are thinking about another fight and they lose the one in front of them. I am focused on him and making sure I take care of business. He’ll bring his best and I will bring my best, and I’ll show everyone why I am special. I am looking to knock him out.”
JO JO DAN, IBF No. 1 Contender and Mandatory Challenger
“I feel great and I am in the best shape of my life. I cannot wait for tomorrow.
“I know what Kell’s strengths and weaknesses are and I’ll show that in the ring. He was impressive against Porter but I am ready to adjust to whatever he can bring and I am ready for 12 hard rounds.
“I am concentrating on Kell Brook. I will get booed, he will get cheered — I don’t care about that, I’m so confident of winning that title.”
Photo Credit: Lawrence Lutwig/Matchroom
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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura
The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.
Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.
The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.
The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.
Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.
Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.
A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.
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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score
This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.
The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.
The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.
De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.
The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.
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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland
On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.
The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.
However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.
At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?
Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.
But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.
Photo by naoki fukuda
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