Kell Brook Stops Boston Underdog Mark “Bazooka” DeLuca

Some folks looked hard at laying a few bucks on Mark DeLuca, being that Kell Brook hadn't looked top tier in his last outing, and because the Brit figured to be dealing with a considerable coat of rust after being off since Dec. 8, 2018.

Not rusty enough to reward any backer who bet against him; Brook looked sharp Saturday, sharp enough in Sheffield to slice up DeLuca, who didn't press the UK hitter and instead tried to slip and feint and…well, his offensive game didn't get off the runway.

DeLuca (below) wasn't aggressive enough in mindset to try and take it to Brook, and not quick enough, or equipped mentally to try and counter Brook when the Brit got off. It was curious to see, the Massachusetts boxer would throw a single left then back off.

Was he trying to stay in it, and get to deep waters, and hope maybe Brook would gas out?

Brook really started busting him up in the third, when he dropped the Mass. man. A sweetly timed jab, with a dab of a hook added in, sent DeLuca down, and rendered him unable to beat the count, in the seventh.

Here is the release hyping the Brook W:

Kell Brook returned from a 14 month hiatus from the ring to stop Mark DeLuca in seven rounds at the FlyDSA Arena in Sheffield, live on Sky Sports in the UK and DAZN in the US. 

A left hook flattened DeLuca and caused the referee to step in after Brook had spent the entire fight badly bloodying and hurting his visitor. The win sets up an exciting 2020 for ‘The Special One' who now has plenty of options. 

“2020 is the year that I become World Champion again,” Brook said afterwards. “I don't shy away from any fighter, I have a lot of respect for Liam Smith, he boxed a stablemate of mine in Liam Williams. 

“I've sparred him and if those spars are anything to go by, the fight would be amazing.

“I know he wants the fight. We'll sit down with Eddie [Hearn] this week. I love the Smith family but once we get in there, it's business.

“I want to get straight back in the gym, I want to be fighting again in 10 or 12 weeks.”

Terri Harper was crowned WBC Super-Featherweight World Champion after battering Eva Walhstom over ten rounds to rip the famous green and gold belt from the long-reigning Finn and cement herself as a new star of British boxing.

“I had a lot of pressure on me, I'm 23-years old and I've just done this, I've made history,” she said afterwards. “I got the win, it was a hard fight against a tough girl.”

Kid Galahad earned another shot at IBF Featherweight World Champion Josh Warrington by stopping Claudio Marrero in eight rounds of their Final Eliminator in a hugely-impressive performance. 

“After last time against Warrington, I couldn't leave anything to the judges,” said Galahad afterwards.

Doncaster fan favourite Dave Allen clattered Dorian Darch, flooring him twice in three rounds, to impressively return to action after his loss to David Price last year. 

“This means the world to me, I've waited for this moment for a long time,” he said. “I've come back because I love the game. Whatever I have is because of boxing.”

Martin J Ward stayed on course for a World Title opportunity in 2020 by outpointing Mexico's Jesus Amparan 100-88, Anthony Tomlinson produced a career-best performance to stop Scotland's Stewart Burt in their British and Commonwealth Welterweight Title Eliminator, Sheffield Super-Featherweight prospect Donte Dixon moved to 3-0 with a fourth round stoppage win over Eduardo Valverde, John Docherty notched another KO win as he moved to 8-0 by halting Pablo Mendoza in the first round and Sheffield Light-Heavyweight talent Callum Beardow progressed to 2-0 with a points win over Pawel Martyniuk.