Kell Brook and Jo Jo Dan will be competing in the main event of a large pay-per-view boxing event at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, Yorkshire on March 28. Brook is a highly-rated welterweight fighter who holds the IBF title and could potentially be the first fighter to face the winner of the upcoming Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. However, he will be going after a rising star in Dan.
Brook is a -1000 favorite to win this bout. Meanwhile, Dan is listed as a +600 underdog. There are many variables for this that go well beyond their records.
First, Kell Brook is competing in his hometown of Sheffield for this bout. Special K has been a regular at the Motorpoint Arena over the years.
Brook is 33-0 with 22 knockouts. He had four straight knockouts before getting a majority decision in his last fight, a win in August against Shawn Porter. This is the fight that brought him to win the IBF title.
All but two of Brook’s fights have been in the United Kingdom. He has attained a number of early knockouts including a third-round win over Hector Saldivia and a fourth-round win against Viacheslav Senchenko.
Jo Jo Dan’s career brought him from his home country of Romania out to Montreal. He has a 34-2 record with 18 knockouts. He has won his last five bouts. His last victory in December was a split decision victory over Kevin Bizier that also served at the IBF Title Eliminator. This granted him the first right to take on Brook.
A majority of Dan’s fights have been in either Quebec or Romania. In addition, he was in the light welterweight division for a good period of time.
Overall, Kell Brook has a stronger overall record and better competition, thus making him a clear favorite in his match with Jo Jo Dan. The potential for Dan to go after a big upset is still a possibility as his +600 odds are far from a difficult.
There are two other key matches that will be on the undercard for this bout as well. Adam Etches is -265 while Sergey Khomitsky is +205 for the IBF middleweight title while Gavin McDonnell is -850 and Oleksandr Yegorov is +525 for the vacant EBU super bantamweight title.