Kell ‘Special K’ Brook stopped veteran Michael Jennings on a cut after 47 seconds of the fifth round at Birmingham's LG Arena tonight. Nominally, his WBO Intercontinental bauble was on the line and the win gets the 24-year-old Sheffielder nearer a shot at a full ‘world’ title.
Having watched Brook (10st 6lb 8oz) spar southpaw for a good few rounds last week, he started orthodox anyway and was totally comfortable from the first bell, playing the part of aggressor successfully by taking the first round.
Jennings (10st 6lbs 8oz) was finding his feet in the second, bouncing around trying to make angles for Brook and the round was pretty close until the 33-year-old ‘The Chorley Lurcher’ felt the younger man’s power by way of a right cross and follow up short right hook. It may not have looked much but Brook is heavy handed and Jennings got on his bike.
The third was an even round, both men getting through with the occasional orthodox one-two and Brook caught latterly on the way in. Jennings continued to look lively in the fourth, bouncing and always offering a moving target but Brook started to open up in response to the instruction of trainer Dominic Ingle to ‘break him up’.
The contest hadn’t really set aflame and though it looked like only one outcome was possible, when it came it came rather too quickly and was rather an anti-climax. Brook had obviously decided to step the pace up a bit and threw half a dozen or more meaty shots to head and body. A left uppercut caught Jennings’ right glove and a cut resulted. Referee Terry O’Connor took him back to his corner and after a very brief inspection, called a halt to proceedings. There were no protests from Jennings or his trainer Brian Hughes.
With reference to the rather unsatisfactory ending, Brook said, “I wanted him out on the canvas, clean and unconscious. That would have been nicer,” before adding, “everyone in boxing knows he’s a nice kid.” Only in boxing.
Brook’s former stablemate Naseem Hamed, looking more and more like a tanned Peter Kay with each passing year, said with typical modesty, “He’s the second coming of Naz…I know that’s high praise.”
He then went on to observe that Brook would knock out Manny Pacquiao. The Yorkshireman is now the Filipino’s mandatory WBO challenger – Brook is ready for mixing in European and, perhaps, world company but needs to progress through those levels before he’s ready for the elite. The problem is, nobody in the opposite corner is hanging around long enough for Brook to really impress or, indeed, get that required experience.
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