Brook Too Much For Jones

By Boxing News - 06/16/2008 - Comments

brook44.jpgBy Nate Anderson: Undefeated welterweight Kell Brook (17-0, 10 KOs) was far too good for last minute replacement Barrie Jones (15-2, 7 KOs) on Saturday night, stopping him in the 7th round to win the vacant BBBofC British welterweight title York Hall, Bethnal Green, in London. Brook, 22, battered Jones from start to finish, hitting him with punches thrown from all kinds of angles and reminding me greatly of a slightly bigger version of Naseem Hamed. Indeed, Brook’s was almost impossible to predict what he’d do in the ring, where his punches would come from and what kind of direction he would go in. In the 7th round, a confused badly hurt Jones was taking severe punishment against the ropes when the referee Mickey Vann moved in to halt the one-sided slaughter.

In winning the fight, Brook showed the kind of skills that may someday make him not just a British champion but a world champion as well, for his skills were quite extraordinary, though he didn’t reveal even a small portion of them due to the low quality of his opponent Barrie Jones. Using mostly his jab, left hooks and straight right hands, Brook battered Jones around the ring for seven rounds without stop.

Rarely did Brook take any return fire from Jones, who looked badly outclassed by Brook and not sure what to do with him for most of the bout. Brook’s jab was a class above and really that was all he would have needed to beat the likes of Jones on Saturday night. Much of the fight was like watching Brook working on a speed bag, as his shots were blinding fast, hitting Jones multiple times within seconds with double and triple hooks. Jones attempted to stand up to the shots even though it was obvious after the first round that he didn’t have nearly the skills to stand in against the likes of Brook.

Still, you’ve got to applaud Jones for lasting as long as he did because he was taking a major pasting from Brook. It wasn’t as if Brook didn’t give him a chance to land, because his style of fighting – standing ramrod straight up, hands held low in front of him in the same manner than Naseem Hamed previously used in his boxing career – seemed to scream out for Jones to plant on his chin and drop him. However, Brook seemed to have a knack for knowing just when Jones would be about to throw one of his big shots, and would lean back making his shot miss by a mere inch or two.

As fun as it is to watch Brook fight, it remains unclear, however, whether or not he’ll be able to get away with using this style of fighting against better competition in the welterweight division. It’s nice to see a fighter using Hamed’s old style of fighting, but if history is any guide, it might not be a style that Brook can afford to get away with using for long without having to pay a huge price.