by Johnny Walker
IBF world welterweight champion Kell Brook retained his title today in his hometown of Sheffield, England, stopping game Romanian-Canadian mandatory challenger Jo Jo Dan in four rounds at the Motorpoint Arena. Brook was coming back from a bizarre attack suffered in Spain, in an incident where he suffered a deep gash to his leg that could have ended his career or even his life.
It was evident from the start that Dan was completely overmatched, as Brook rocked his opponent with everything that landed, even wobbling Dan with hard left jabs.
Dan went down twice in the second round, first from an uppercut and then from a hard right hand. It was already apparent that it was merely a matter of time for the totally outclassed Dan.
Dan gamely attempted to make the fight messy in the third round to try and survive, but Brook proved too strong and too skilled to be put off by roughhouse tactics on the inside.
The fourth round spelled curtains for Dan, who opened by scoring with a right hand and some body shots. Brook then decided enough was enough, scoring with a hard counter-right hand, sending Dan into pure survival mode.
Brook kept up the attack, rattling his opponent with some big right hands and sending Dan (34-3, 18 KOs) to mat twice more, the last knockdown coming at the bell. After a brief discussion in the fighter’s corner with referee Earl Brown, Dan’s team decided their man had taken enough punishment for one night, and the fight was called off, giving Brook the TKO victory.
Brook (34-0, 22 KOs) made sure to call out fellow Briton Amir Khan after the win, drawing cheers from the partisan crowd, and made clear his elation at not only winning this fight, but at having survived a life-threatening attack outside the ring to do so.