Kell Brook VS Lovemore N'Dou Preview

By Sheldan Keay

 

As well as Matthew Macklin's world title challenge on Saturday, another high profile English boxer returns to the ring in his quest for his own world title bout. Highly rated Kell Brook returns to his native Sheffield for the first time in 6 years to face crafty veteran Lovemore N'Dou for the vacant WBA inter-continental welterweight title.

Brook comes into this fight having won all 23 of his previous bouts, and will be looking to extend that record to 24 unbeaten. Having stopped 12 of his last 13 opponents, Brook will believe that has the tools to be able to become the first man to stop N'Dou. At the age of 39, N'Dou be stepping in to the ring for his 63rd professional bout, having previously won 48 of them. Despite being beat 12 times in his career, most recently in his last outing against WBC light middleweight champion Saul Alvarez, N'Dou has never been stopped during his 18 year career.

British boxing fans may remember N'Dou for a number of reasons, he fought former world light welterweight champion Junior Witter to a close decision at the Staples Centre back in 2005, and also lost a split decision to opponent Paulie Malignaggi, which became known as the infamous "hair cut fight" due to Malignaggi having his ponytail being cut off mid way through the fight, that bout took place on the undercard of Rickie's Hatton 2008 bout against Juan Lazcano at the City of Manchester Stadium. Most recently, N'Dou faced off against Matthew Hatton in November 2009 for N'Dou's IBO welterweight title, in a bout that after 12 grueling rounds, was ruled a draw.

Brook appears to have all the right skills in order to beat N'Dou, being only 25, he is the much younger man, and will have a considerable speed advantage over N'Dou. Brook is also well known for being a heavy hitter, with 16 of his 23 victories coming inside the distance. Not surprisingly, he is being backed as the heavy favourite for this fight, and not only does Brook think that he can stop N'Dou, but he also feels that this fight is a good way to silence those who have doubted him. Brook said "I hope I can be the first guy to stop him, he's never been in with someone like me, that's a challenge, but I'd love to give the fans a 12 round exciting fight. And it's also good for me if I do go 12 rounds because I've never been 12 rounds before." He went on to say "Lovemore N'dou is an ex-world champion, he's tough, game and has been in with the best. He's definitely a step up in class. That's what I want - I don't want to be fighting lesser opponents, I want to be fighting tough people."

If Brook is to win this fight, he would be in poll position for a world title fight somewhere down the line, and Brook also believes that he is ready for such an occasion if it was to arise. "Hopefully my next fight is a world title fight. I'm willing to fight any of the champions. I want to chase the title and get one of those belts. With this bout being contensted over the WBA inter-continental championship, this would appear to put Brook in contention for a fight against the WBA world champion, who currently belongs to Ukranian Viacheslav Senchenko. With Senchenko's last 3 outings having gone to decision against questionable opponents, Brook has every chance of being able to defeat the champion should a bout take place. However, first things first, he must overcome the challenge of N'Dou on Saturday, and then look forward to a potential world title fight at a later date.

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