Boxer Kell Brook to defend his IBF World title in March

Kell Brook will defend his IBF World Welterweight title against Romanian "Jo Jo" Dan at the Motorpoint Arena on 28th March.

 

Kell wowed his fans when he attended a Civic Reception in his Sheffield hometown in August 2014 after defeating Shawn Porter for the IBF World Welterweight title. 

He was expected to make a first defence of his title last December, but that was affected by a machete attack in Tenerife shortly after his Civic Reception.  All credit to Kell who later said "I was lying there helpless and hopeless on teh side of the street.  I was thinking about my kids, my family, looking at the blood pouring out of my leg."  Well done on the recovery and all the best for a show-stopping performance in March.

The Return of the King - Kell Brook

In honour of his winning the IBF Welterweight crown and becoming the latest in a long line of prolific Sheffield boxers, Kell Brook was welcomed back to Sheffield with a Civic Reception and a public event in the Winter Gardens.

His trainer Dominic Ingle spoke of those men that Kell Brook was following: Naseem Hamed, Johnny Nelson, Clinton Woods among others.

And promotor Eddie Hearn looked forward to major fight nights at the Arena, starting later this year with an as-yet- provisional date of 6th December....perhaps to be followed with a Wembley Stadium date with Amir Khan next year.  And he spoke about Brook now looking to unify the welterweight division in a very strong boxing division.

As for the hundreds that had turned out to welcome him home, it was a special day to say well done to their special K.

My first Basketball game shoot

If you're going to shoot a basketball game, your first in fact, then why not make it a biggie?  The Harlem Globetrotters came to the Sheffield Motorpoint Arena on Friday 23rd March and I was able to get press accreditaton for it as a freelancer.  Good job no-one was paying me for the pictures as I was not at my best......(or as Scott Kelby said of his first basketball shoot - "...I sucked...").

The lighting was ok for watching the game as a spectator, but even the EIS (notorious among sports photographers) lets you use 1/1000th at 4000ISO (not ideal, but ok).  For the Globetrotters I was at 1/640th at 6400ISO and hoping that the noise wasn't going to be too bad.  Needless to say the D700 did a fab job and it was just down to me, trying to get the angles while not blocking anyone's view and failing hopelessly to really follow the action as those guys whip it round the court so fast in one of their trade-mark "now-you-see-it-now-you-don't" moves.
Great night, great show.  Check out their website.