By Terence Dooley

Bobby Dobbs, the manager of Oklahoma’s Carson Jones, has reached out to BoxingScene to stress that his charge would have been happy to meet Sheffield’s Kell Brook at the welterweight limit of 147 at Hull's Craven Park Stadium on Saturday night and that Brook’s team insisted on a catchweight contest.  The fight, which is promoted by Eddie Hearn of Matchroom and will be shown on Sky Sports, is set for ten-threes and is taking place at 152lbs.

Dobbs, though, told me that Jones, 35-9-3 (25), had no choice but to accept the catchweight limit in order to secure a rematch with the man who handed him a majority decision defeat last July.  “We have wanted the fight at 147 since the start of negotiations,” said Dobbs.

“While it’s true Carson has been over 147 for his last two fights, that's not significant for the following reasons.  The fight against [Dean] Byrne [an eight-round draw in December] was originally against Lee Purdy at 147.  Carson arrived in London ready to make 147 and when the fight was scrapped and Byrne was put in on short notice the weight was raised [Jones weighed 151½lbs to Byrne’s 150lbs].

“The other fight in May against Travis Hartman [W KO 3] was just a last minute tune up with no training camp.  He just fought at the weight he was walking around at [160lbs].  With an eight weight camp like this, he absolutely could have made 147.”

The rematch with Brook, 29-0 (19), was originally set for 150lbs then moved to 152 earlier this week.  Terry Thompson, Brook's father, explained their side of the situation to BoxingScene after the weigh-in yesterday and stressed that Brook will continue to campaign at welterweight in future fights.

To read Thompson’s interview click on this link:

https://www.boxingscene.com/kell-brooks-father-kell-going-stay-147-pounds--67610

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