Today at 3:00 p.m. EDT on Sky Sports, Matchroom Boxing presents a strong triple-header headlined by top UK welterweight Kell Brook taking on scrappy American battler Carson Jones in the 12-round main event.
[ Previews: Brook vs Jones / Proksa vs Hope II, Rees vs Mathews II ]
Brook (27-0, 18 KO) has passed every test thus far with flying colors, including his big-drawing March win over Matthew Hatton. But Jones (34-8-2, 24 KO) should be the toughest test to date, as he's a fighter better than his on-paper record. At 25, he's actually a year younger than Brook, and has learned on the job in the pros, whereas Brook has been nurtured from the get-go.
It should be a very good main event, and could be a final step for Brook before he truly sets his sights on a world title shot.
On the undercard, a pair of European title rematches will take place. Up first will be Gavin Rees defending his European lightweight title against Derry Mathews, the current British titleholder. Both belts will be up for grabs. Rees (36-1-1, 17 KO) and Mathews (30-6-1, 16 KO) have the potential to put on a cracking fight, which they did not in their first meeting in October 2011, as the bout was stopped early in the fourth round, ruled a technical draw due to a clash of heads that left Mathews with a broken nose.
Following Brook vs Jones on the Sky broadcast will be Kerry Hope defending the European middleweight title against the man he shocked to win the title, Grzegorz Proksa. The flashy Proksa (27-1, 20 KO) just wasn't who many of us thought he was last time out, losing a stunner to Hope (17-3, 1 KO). In all honesty, Proksa is a more dynamic, more complete fighter, but it wasn't enough last time, and he's got something big to prove this time out.
We'll have live round-by-round coverage of the fights, though most likely we will be skipping Proksa vs Hope II for the Wladimir Klitschko fight. Brook vs Jones is scheduled to go on at 4 p.m. EDT, while Wladimir vs Thompson is set to start on Epix at 5 p.m. EDT, meaning we will be getting both fights in.