Golovkin’s promoter interested in Kell Brook fight

By Boxing News - 04/28/2016 - Comments

Image: Golovkin’s promoter interested in Kell Brook fightBy Scott Gilfoid: IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) and his promoter Eddie Hearn have been squawking about wanting a big stadium fight against a popular fighter this Summer. They missed out on Amir Khan, who took a bigger money fight against a bigger name in WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for May 7.

In a knee-jerk reaction to Khan shocking the boxing world with that fight, Brook said he would be willing to move up in weight to fight IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) for his titles if a catch-weight could be agreed on. Golovkin would likely get a big payday in a fight against Brook. I could see him getting $4 million at the minimum. I think Golovkin is getting $2 million paydays now, so it would be roughly double the amount that he’s been making for his fights.

The catch-weight that Hearn reportedly wants is 157lbs, which would be a doable one for Golovkin because he can definitely squeeze down to that weight limit for a big fight.

There was silence on Golovkin’s end until now. His promoter Tom Loeffler says they would be open to a fight against the 29-year-old Brook, and he’s ready to start talks if Brook is on the level about wanting that fight. Brook vs. Golovkin is definitely a stadium worthy fight in the UK, and clearly it would be a fight that would a pay-per-view fight on Sky Box Office. Golovkin would likely get a career high payday against Brook, and it would definitely be a worthwhile fight for him financially.

“If Kell is really serious, it would be something to discuss,” Loeffler said to skysports.com. “Brook is one of the best fighters in the sport. He’s at 147lbs and Gennady is at 160 so the only question we have is about the weight, nothing else. “A lot of great welterweights have fought at middleweight – a classic example is Sugar Ray Leonard, who moved up to 160lbs to beat Marvin Hagler.”

I think this is a great match-up if the fight can be negotiated. Let’s be real about this; Golovkin probably will not be getting the match that he wants against WBC middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez for later this year. Golovkin wants to fight WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders if he can’t get the fight against Canelo. However, I think a fight against Kell Brook would be a bigger money fight than if Golovkin were to fight Saunders.

Golovkin-Brook is definitely a fight that could sell-out a stadium in the UK, albeit a smaller stadium. You’re not going to sellout Wembley Stadium with Golovkin vs. Brook. If Carl Froch wanted to be brave and daring, he could come back and probably sellout Wembey stadium if he were to fight Golovkin. Unfortunately, Froch doesn’t fancy that fight enough to come out of retirement to fight the powerful Kazakhstan star, even though Froch would have the size advantage and would make a ton of money.

“Kell clearly can make welterweight so if he ever moved up to middleweight to challenge Gennady, that would be a big statement,” said Hearn.

It really wouldn’t be that big of a deal for Brook to move up and fight Golovkin, because there is very little weight that separates the two fighters. Brook is said to rehydrate into the 160s for his fights at welterweight. Golokvin fights at 170 on the dot for his middleweight clashes. With Brook being around 165, we’re only talking about roughly five pounds separating them.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why Brook does well fighting against welterweights. The guy is basically a junior middleweight fighting welterweights, and that gives him a huge advantage. Golovkin is a junior middleweight in size too, but he chooses to fight in the middleweight division where there are bigger fights. I don’t see it as a brave move on Brook’s part for him to fight Golovki at middleweight because the two fighters are almost the same size. Brook could easily be fighting in the middleweight division right now if he wanted to. Obviously, melting down in weight to fight welterweights has helped Brook’s career because he has a size advantage over them that he wouldn’t have if he fought in the middleweight division against guys his own weight.

Hearn also thinks that Brook fought great against Shawn Porter. I don’t agree with Hearn about Brook’s win over Porter being a fantastic one. I thought it was a very boring fight to watch, but that’s me. I don’t like watching one fighter clinch another one all night long, round after round without the referee stepping in an disqualifying the clincher. Brook obviously knew he couldn’t beat Porter by actually fighting him, so he chose to clinch him nonstop in every round, and the referee let him do it without penalizing him and disqualifying him.