Golovkin: Brook’s boxing IQ makes him a test for me

By Boxing News - 08/19/2016 - Comments

Image: Golovkin: Brook’s boxing IQ makes him a test for me

By Eric Baldwin: Kell Brook’s boxing IQ is what makes him the biggest threat to beating IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in their fight on September 10, according to the Kazakhstan fighter. Golovkin is less worried about Brook’s size with him weigh-in 176lbs at their recent 30-day weigh-in. Golovkin feels he’ll be able to deal with Brook’s weight.

Besides Brook’s boxing IQ, Golovkin also sees the fact that the fight is taking place in the UK as being something that could make Brook a threat to beating him. The crowd will be on Brook’s side in this fight, and Golovkin will need to find a way to overcome the large pro-Brook crowd so that he can take the fight fans out of the equation before it becomes a real problem.

“He’s not small. He’s a big test for me,” said Golovkin to IFL TV. “Everybody has a risk. I don’t know next year. Right now, he’s weighing 176. He’s ready for 160. This is a big test,” said Golovkin.

When asked what makes Brook a threat to him, Golovkin said, “Boxing. His boxing IQ, he’s undefeated, he’s a champion, [and] he’s from the UK. I like my style, drama show. I like [to] fight,” said Golovkin.

Brook will no doubt have a well formulated plan that he’ll be using in this fight to get the better of Golovkin. It’s not going to be just one thing that Brook uses. He’s going to have a mixture of things that he uses to try and defeat the 34-year-old Kazakhstan fighter. Believe it or not, the approach that has had the best success against Golovkin is when fighters stand and trade with him. Kassim Ouma gave Golovkin a ton of problems by meeting aggression wit aggression in their fight in 2011.

While Golovkin did eventually stop Ouma in the 10th round, he was all lumped up around the face and very tired looking by the time the fight was stopped. Gabriel Rosado marked up Golovkin around both eyes in their fight in 2013. Martin Murray had his movements early in his fight with Golovkin in 2015.

Willie Monroe Jr. did well against Golovkin when he stood and threw shots at him in rounds three through five. Golovkin was even looking tired in that fight. The fighters that chose to play it safe against Golovkin were the ones that took a pounding and were knocked out. Brook is probably better off sticking with just one plan for this fight by trading with Golovkin. If Brook gets hurt, then he can always get on his bike and look to get away from him to survive.

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“Kell Brook is a huge welterweight. I don’t know how he makes 147,” said Loeffler to IFL TV. “Gennady doesn’t have any problems making 160lbs. He’s [Brook] the heavier guy. On paper, it looks like an undefeated welterweight champion fighting an undefeated middleweight champion. But Gennady has always been able to make 160lbs easily. I think it’s a lot more competitive fight than many people think,” said Loeffler.

This might be a competitive fight like Loeffler says. It will depend on what Brook does, and how much he can take from Golovkin. Brook will get hit with some big shots early in the fight. If he can handle Golovkin’s power, then he’ll be able to land his own big shots and make a fight of it. The winner of this fight could be the guy with the better chin and the one who is more willing to stand and fight.

Since Golovkin rarely uses movement to stay away from his opponents. It’s going to be up to Brook to show whether he can stay in the pocket and fight with GGG. Brook has been able to do that against the guys that he’s faced thus far in his 12-year pro career, but he’s not faced anyone like Triple G before. Brook is moving up in weight and fighting a guy that will be lose to the same weight as him on October 10 at the O2 Arena in London, England.

Brook might have a weight advantage over Golovkin in this fight. We’re going to have to see whether that’s the case/ Brook out-weighed Golovkin by 11 pounds at their 30-day weigh-in recently, so it’s possible that he’ll maintain his weight advantage up to the fight.