Carson Jones gave Kell Brook the scare of his life the last time they met – and the American has warned Brook that on Saturday night at the MS3 Craven Park in Hull, in Betfair’s ‘The Homecoming’. The welterweights clashed in Brook’s hometown of Sheffield a year ago and the Steel City star was on top in the first half of their battle. But as Brook began to run out of steam, the Oklahoma visitor stepped on The Special One, broke his nose in the eighth round and forced him to dig deeper than ever before to take the majority decision.
The careers of both men have stuttered somewhat since due to injury, so Jones believes both men are back to where they were for the first fight and this time, he intends to put Brook away.
“I had Kell in all kinds of problems in Sheffield but he got away with it,” said Jones. “I took four or five rounds to get started, but as soon as I did it was popping. This time I’ll be on him from the start and there will be no escape route for him this time – I want that World title shot just as much as he does.
“Everybody keeps making excuses saying that he had stamina problems – he didn’t have stamina problems, he had a Carson Jones problem. I was pressing him, hitting him with clean shots, I broke his nose in the eighth round and from then on it was pretty much my fight.
“I don’t have a problem coming over here. I’ve been to his hometown before, and I’ve been to other people’s backyards and taken home the victory. When it comes down to it, it’s just me and him fighting whether it’s his hometown or mine, it’s not going to change the outcome.
“He’s never had anybody up in his face before, and he really didn’t know how to react to it. He looked a little scared to me.”
Brook and Jones are part of a stellar line-up in Humberside, as hometown favourite and Olympic Gold medal hero Luke Campbell MBE makes his pro debut against Andy Harris.
Welsh featherweight star Lee Selby takes on Romanian Viorel Simion and there’s a tasty battle for the vacant Commonwealth lightweight title between Hull’s Tommy Coyle and Liverpool’s Derry Mathews.
Campbell’s fellow Olympic medallist Anthony Ogogo boxes for the third time in the pro ranks and is joined on the undercard by Liverpool’s Rocky Fielding, Sheffield’s Curtis Woodhouse, Islington’s John Ryder and young Hull talents Joel Haigh and Zak Collins.
