Brook started well and easily won the first four or five rounds but then things started to change. The tactics that were ineffective for Jones at the start of the fight, were starting to work and bring the American back into the fight. In the first few rounds, it was Brook's physical strength and superior boxing skills that were keeping Jones at bay, but the spite that Brook desperately wanted to prove he had, may have just worked against him in the middle rounds. 'The Special One' started to get involved in a war and this style of fight suited Jones.
The hard-punching American continued to move forward and at one point, Brook looked a little dazed and wobbly. It was revealed that after the 8th round that Brook was suffering from a broken nose. It was clear that this was effecting Brook has he was breathing heavily and not throwing his punches with the same aggression that he was at the beginning.
Brook managed to last the final few rounds and even stood toe-to-toe with Jones in the last minute or so of the fight. The judges scorecards at the end were 114-114, 116-113, 115-113. The last two were fair, but I still don't know how the first judge managed to score the fight a draw. Jones had a few good rounds, but Brook was in control for the majority of the fight.
'The Special One' proved a lot of things in this fight, but also left a lot of questions. We are still wondering if he is ready to step up in class and fight world beaters, but he did prove to all of his doubters that he has a tremendous amount of heart and almost a pretty strong chin.
On the under-card of the fantastic show set up by Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, there were no surprises. Gavin Rees scored a 9th round KO over Derry Matthews in their highly anticipated rematch for the European lightweight title. And in the other great rematch, Proksa won back his European middleweight title by knocking out Kerry Hope in the 8th round.
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