Romanian Boxer Jo Jo Dan
Romanian boxer Ionut Ion has become the second challenger of the world IBF welterweight belt.
Florin Orban, 03.12.2013, 13:16
Romanian boxer Ionut Ion, better known by his ring name Jo Jo Dan, has become the second challenger for the world IBF welterweight belt.
At the end of last week, in a professional boxing gala held in the Canadian city of Quebec, Jo Jo Dan defeated the Canadian Kevin Bizier on points. The match had a total of 12 rounds.
The same gala saw the World WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson pulling a technical KO over Tony Bellew of the UK in round 6.
With his win in Quebec, Jo Jo Dan has won the North American Boxing Association and IBF Inter-Continental belts. For his remarkable achievement, we have designated Jo Jo Dan Athlete of the Week on RRI.
Aged 32, Jo Jo Dan has had 32 wins throughout his professional career, of which 17 by knockout, and 2 defeats.
He was born in Giurgiu, southern Romania, on August 9, 1981. As a professional boxer he won his first belt, namely the light welterweight North American Boxing Association belt in 2007, following a 12th-round KO over Paul Delgado of the United States. As part of the same gala held in Montreal, another Romanian boxer Lucian Bute would become the world’s IBF super middleweight champion.
At the end of 2008, Jo Jo Dan also won the WBC Continental Americas belt after a win in Ploiesti over Miguel Casillas of Mexico.
In 2010 his ascension to the world’s top boxers was thwarted by Selcuk Aydin of Turkey, who defeated Jo Jo Dan in a match in Istanbul after the referees’ controversial decision. In 2011 he also lost the rematch against Aydin, held also in Turkey in Trabzon. He managed to move over this difficult time and made his spectacular comeback into the boxing ring. Jo Jo Dan is now very close to becoming first challenger for the IBF world belt.