Berto and Roach talk Golovkin vs. Brook

By Boxing News - 08/08/2016 - Comments

Image: Berto and Roach talk Golovkin vs. Brook

By Scott Gilfoid: Kell Brook isn’t getting a lot of boxers, trainers or boxing fans giving him much chance to beat Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in their fight next month. Trainer Freddie Roach and former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto are the latest people that have come out and chimed in with their opinions about Brook being up against it in this fight. Berto at least thinks Brook has a chance of maybe doing something against GGG.

Berto isn’t quite sure. He seems Brook as being ultra-confident about being able to beat the hard hitting Triple G, but he’s not sure if that’s fake confidence or not. For his part, Roach just thinks that Golovkin is going to blow through Brook like he’s not even there.
Golovkin and Brook will be fighting on September 10 at the O2 Arena in London, England.

The fight will be televised on HBO Championship Boxing in the States and on Sky Box Office in the UK. Brook has the home country advantage in the fight, but that’s kind of meaningless given that he’s fighting a knockout artist who thrives on fighting in front of loud fans. If anything, Brook’s screaming fans will unwittingly lead him to a faster knockout loss by encouraging him to mix it up with Golovkin. It’ll be the equivalent of Brook putting his head into the mouth of a lion on September 10.

Golovkin is going to be looking to take Brook out quickly in this fight, and Brook’s fans likely lead to the fight ending even quicker than it otherwise would. You can’t knock Brook for wanting to fight in front of his own boxing fans, but I don’t see it helping him, because don’t gain an edge against a guy like Golovkin by fighting harder and mixing it up with him more. You have to run from him and spoil so can survive, which Brook might try and do.

“Brook is a little nuts with that one,” said Berto to Fighthype.com about him choosing to fight Golovkin. “He’s a big welterweight anyways. I’ve seen interviews and he’s pretty confident in what he can do. I don’t know if it’s fake, or if he really knows that he can try and pull it off or it’s just for the payday. When he saw Amir Khan, I guess Brook feels like he’s got to do the same to prove something, but it’s a real dangerous type of situation to try and prove. We’ll see what happens. I’ve known Golovkin cine the Olympic games. You’re dealing with someone that can punch hard. He’s also technically sound too. You’re not just dealing with someone that can punch through the wall, but he’s technically sound too. He knows what he’s doing out there. He’s had over 300 amateur bouts. You’re dealing with a different type of animal that is aggressive, can punch hard, and he knows what he’s doing. He has that IQ. That [expletive] is dangerous. He’s crazy,” said Berto.

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Yeah, I agree with Berto about Brook being bonkers for taking this fight with Golovkin. But with the money that Brook will be getting for the fight, I guess it was worth it for him. Brook has been around as a pro for the past 12 years, and he’s not been able to get a huge money fight. I guess he had to do something because the guys in the welterweight division weren’t interested in facing him. Further, Brook has little time left before he’ll need to fight young talent Errol Spence Jr. (20-0, 17 KOs), and that’s pretty much a sure thing loss for Brook.

Spence is seen as the future of the welterweight division and he’s not going to be stopped by anyone at this point. If Brook had just waited around hoping to get a big money fight against Danny Garcia or Amir Khan, he would have soon had to fight Spence, and that would have led to him likely getting knocked out by the young American. Once Brook loses to Spence, he can forget all about a fight against the likes of Garcia or Khan. As such, Brook was in a horrible bind in having to pretty much move up to 160 and risk his hide against Golovkin for the big payday so that he could cash out now before he gets whipped by Spence in 2017.

It was a smart move on Brook’s part, but also the only real move that he had. If his promoter Eddie Hearn had decided to wait around hoping that Brook could beat Spence and then eventually get Khan or Garcia inside the ring, he likely would have been crying big crocodile tears when Brook was beaten by Spence and then didn’t get the fight against Garcia and Khan. Brook hasn’t shown much interest in fighting Keith Thurman, so I didn’t include his name. He’s been focused on fighting Garcia or Khan.

“Triple G walks right through him, knocks him out,” said Roach to Fighthub.com. “Golovkin is a pound-for-pound one of the best fighters in the world today, and a very good fighter. I just don’t think the other guy [Brook] has enough experience. He’s been trying to get a big money fight. He’s been trying to get Amir Khan for a long time, and nobody has been coming to the table for him. He’s jumping up two weight classes. That’s just too much. The weight issue and he’s fighting one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world today. I think it’s going to be a tough night,” said Roach about Brook.

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Roach is probably right about Golovkin walking through Brook on September 10. I do think that Golovkin will keep Brook around for five or six rounds in the same way he carried Willie Monroe Jr. in his recent fight against him. I think Golovkin will want to toy with Brook and give him a slow, methodical beating rather than taking him out quickly in this fight. The only way I see Golovkin deviating from that path is if Brook gets in his face and tries to slug with him. If he does that, then Golovkin’s killer instincts will take over and he’ll blow him out of the water. I see Golovkin as a grizzly bear. The end result of messing with one of those Alaskan Grizzly bears is you get taken apart. If Brook decides to be brave – and foolish – by slugging with Golovkin from the first round in this fight, then it’s going to end quickly for him with GGG knocking him to smithereens. If Brook uses the Martin Murray approach to the Golovkin fight by running and holding all night long in a purely survival oriented fight, then I think he might be able to last until the later rounds.