Hearn sends out Brook warning despite victory

Brook moved his perfect professional record to 28 victories from as many fights Saturday night, but was forced to come through the first major crisis of his career to eke out a majority verdict over tough American Carson Jones at the Motorpoint Arena.

The past year in Hearn’s Matchroom Sports stable has seen Brook become a bill-topping star in his home city, barely dropping a round in wins over Lovemore N’Dou, Rafal Jackiewicz, Luis Galarza and Matthew Hatton. More of the same appeared to be the order of the day as the 26-year-old cruised through the opening five rounds, effortlessly picking apart Jones’s one-dimensional come-forward style. But he visibly tired around midway, suffered a broken nose in seven and had to weather a relentless assault from his Oklahoma foe through a mask of blood in the closing stages.

That blood loss meant Brook was taken straight to hospital afterwards, leaving a relieved Hearn to explain how problems with dieting and making the weight left his man running on empty.

“I haven’t really been happy all week,” he said. “He has big, big problems making the weight. He’s a massive welterweight.

“It’s always tight, it’s always tough, but this time in particular was very tough. On Thursday night I thought if this fight goes long he will get very tired.

“He broke his nose in the seventh round which was probably the worst thing that could have happened to him. He lost a lot of blood.”

Nevertheless, Hearn was happy to take the positives from a gruelling evening, where Brook displayed a fortitude his serene progress to date had not previously called upon.

“My assessment is we’ve found out he has a massive heart, he’s got plenty of guts and he’s got a great chin,” said Hearn. “But we also found out that he’s got bundles of work to do.

“I’m happy in a way because if he’d knocked the guy out in seven rounds, in my mind I still know we’ve got to change a lot of things – but now he knows it. He likes his food – don’t we all. But you know how tough it is making weight when you’re big at the weight. I don’t want people to think that he’s just a slob. He trains very hard, he lives the life. But you live the life of perhaps a British champion. I want him to live the life of a pound-for-pound champion.”