Kell Brook Battles Through Tough Carson Test

By Andrew Wake at ringside: While Kell Brook isn’t a name that is instantly recognisable to American boxing fans, the unbeaten British welterweight is certainly on a mission to get the respect his skills deserve.

The self-styled “Special One” moved a step closer to being on the radar of fight aficionados Stateside by scoring a majority decision over Oklahoma City’s gutsy Carson Jones.

It’s a result which means he keeps possession of his IBF intercontinental title but he won’t be too overjoyed by that trinket as the more important thing is that the victory moves him a step closer to full world honours.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for the 26-year-old from Sheffield, though. Brook found himself swallowing blood from a busted nose in round eight and, like a ravenous vampire, Jones sprang into life.

Indeed, Brook had to use the circumference of the ring keep the American at range and prevent further damage being done to his snout as the fight moved into the championship rounds.

Prior to that Brook had been in full flow. He won the first six sessions at a canter by boxing smartly and popping hard but straight blows at Jones’ jaw.

For much of those sessions Jones looked bamboozled. He showed all the guile that has served him well through his long and often turbulent career but could rarely find the target cleanly.

When Jones did have a modicum of success in the fifth, Brook merely shrugged the punches off and then detonated a pair of hefty right hands that left the visitor with a swollen left cheek.

The first signs of a real Jones fight back came towards the end of the sixth stanza. He connected with both fists as Brook found himself pressed up against the ropes, but it was a salvo that came too late for him to win the round on this reporter’s card at least.

However, after the shot that landed which turned Kell’s face into a mask of blood, the fight turned into a topsy turvy affair and the Englishman had show a side of his game not previously seen in order to secure the verdict.

The judges scores were 114-114, 116-113, 115-113.

When Jones entered the ring he had the words Dear Judges Please Don’t Rob Me emblazoned on the back of his robe. Despite the closeness of the cards, however, the result is beyond dispute.

Former WBA light-welterweight Gavin Rees continued to collect titles at lightweight when he added to the British crown to his European bauble with a ninth round stoppage of Liverpool’s Derry Mathews.

The pair had met last October but the fight ending in a disappointment for both men as Mathews suffered a broken nose from an accidental clash of heads and the bout was scored a technical draw.

Since then Mathews, 28, had ripped this domestic title from the heavily favoured Anthony Crolla so the stage was set for an enthralling old fashioned unifier.

Mathews did extremely well in the opening two rounds as he countered Rees coming in with a solid right cross.

Rees, with his buzzsaw style, however, could not be contained and attacked his much taller foe in swarms.

By the third, Newbridge’s Rees was whipping looping right hands over Mathews’ guard and before long a laceration had formed across the Scouser’s left eyelid, although it appeared to come from Rees’ head as he followed through after landing a hook.

Something that became noticeable to most around ringside in the third and fourth rounds was that fact that Mathews had stopped throwing his right hand even when the chance to let one go presented itself.

And it wasn’t until midway through round five that he finally detonated a couple of blows with that paw. But had he genuinely hurt it or was he just lulling Rees into a false sense of security?

It mattered not anyway because after taking those shots Rees rocked the Scouser with a short right hook upstairs and from round six onwards it seemed like only a matter of time before the Welshman closed the show.

The end finally came at 1.27 of round nine when a right followed by a swift left dumped Mathews onto his backside and although he was back on his feet at “nine”, referee Howard Foster waved it off.

Rees, in most probability, will now be looking for another tilt at a world title. The likes of John Murray and Anthony Crolla will no doubt be hoping for a shot at the shaven-headed man from the Welsh valleys, but there really is little point for him to stay at domestic level if bigger things are on the horizon.