By Scott Gilfoid: Just as I thought, IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs) has decided to face Jo Jo Dan (34-2, 18 KOs) in his next fight on 3/28 at the Motorpoint Arena, in Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
It was officially announced earlier today by Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn. The fight itself is more of a case of Brook facing a 2nd tier guy because Dan, 33, is a very mediocre welterweight. I mean, we are talking about a fighter who twice was beaten by Selcuk Aydin, and those defeats weren’t very long ago.
The fact that Jo Jo Dan has beaten twice by Aydin should have been enough for him not to even be ranked in the top 15, but the International Boxing Federation has him ranked No.1 for some reason with their upside down rankings. The funny thing is the IBF has Dan ranked about the likes of Tim Bradley, Shawn Porter, Amir Khan, Robert Guerrero, Devon Alexander, Sadam Ali and Diego Chaves.
As far as I can tell, Dan would stand no chance of beating any of those fighters. That’s why you’ve got to wonder what was going through the minds of the IBF when they sat down together to decide on ranking Jo Jo Dan as the No.1 contender for the IBF. I mean, Dan just barely beat a mediocre fighter in Kevin Bizier in his last fight in December, and Bizier is nothing special at all.
Dan barely beat him by a 12 round split decision. The IBF should have seen that fight and then rearranged their rankings to put Dan in a more fitting place at bottom 15, or better yet bottom 25. I just don’t see Dan as even a top 15 guy. He has no power, and he brings nothing to the table in terms of skills.
“I am getting the mandatory out of the way. I am after those massive fights – you all know the names – later in the summer, but I have to get this one out of the way first, and he is a tough customer,” Brook said via Skysports.com.
You can read what Brook is saying as him meaning that he’s getting an easy title-milking fight out of the way for an easy no risk fight.
“Jo Jo Dan is also a great fighter and the No 1 ranked fighter in the division, in Kell Brook’s governing body,” Hearn said.
Oh brother, look at Hearn building up Dan, as if he’s the best fighter since sliced bread instead of a guy who was bounced around the ring twice by Selcuk Aydin and who looked horrible in his fights against Bizier, a fighter that the top fighters in the division would absolutely toy with.
I’m just wondering how they’re going to sell this mismatch. Dan doesn’t have a big profile for obvious reasons, and I can’t see the fight doing well in the UK. Hearn wanted someone for Brook to fight that was recognizable to the U.S casual fans.
Obviously, Hearn failed in that area because Dan is an unknown with casual boxing fans in the U.S, and a win over him, no matter how impressive, isn’t going to make Brook a star in the U.S.
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