By Chris Williams: You can add promoter Lou Dibella and former two-division world champion Paulie Malignaggi to the growing group of people that are NOT pleased with the news of IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin choosing to defend his titles against welterweight Kell Brook on September 10 in London, England.
Dibella thinks Brook has no chance of winning the fight due to him not having the size to compete against the heaver Golovkin. Dibella does like both fighters, but he thinks that the fight will be won because of Golovkin’s superior size. for his part, Malignaggi is worried that the lack of respect for weight classes could get someone hurt.
Malignaggi was firmly against welterweight Amir Khan moving up to fight former WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez last May. Khan did alright for five rounds before getting knocked clean out in the 6th by a right hand from Canelo.
“Does someone really have to get hurt for ppl to start to understand how crazy the lack of respect for weight classes in boxing is getting?” said Malignaggi on his social media site.
It seems pretty obvious why the 30-year-old Brook has moved up in weight to challenge Golovkin. Brook has been shut out by the top fighters at 147 for most of his pro career. Brook has put together an impressive 36-0 record, but that hasn’t helped him get fights against the likes of the bigger names like Amir Khan, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Keith Thurman, Tim Bradley, Danny Garcia and Manny Pacquiao.
Brook is in a situation where his career is moving along but he’s not able to get the fights he needs in this weight class. Brook is like a modern day Paul Williams, a fighter that had great talent but was seemingly avoided by the top stars in the 147lb division. Williams finally had to move up in weight to 154 and 160 to get fights against top guys. Williams never did get guys like Mayweather and Pacquiao to fight him. Brook is finding the hard way that the only way he can become a star is by moving up in eight to take on dangerous punchers like Golovkin.
It’s a risk for Brook, but he’ll make a lot of money against Golovkin. If Brook beats Golovkin, then he’ll be a huge star and it’ll open the gates for him to take on the other stars. Brook might not even need to beat Golovkin to increase his popularity. Just by going the distance making it a thrilling knockdown fight, Brook can his popularity tenfold.
“Size MATTERS. Weight MATTERS. Love both , but not vs. each other. It’s a friggin joke,” said Dibella on his Twitter. “Mismatch, totally, on size!! No, bad day for anyone paying or who cares about fair, safe competition. PPV FORMULA: good small man takes mismatch fight w/ NO chance to win for big $$. Loses, in ONLY possible result, but not his stock. STINKS!! I’ve been begging for very highly rated Anvil Khurtsidze to be given the shot. Would have been a good one.”
It’s really hard to say if the Golovkin vs. Brook fight will be a mismatch or not. Brook is around the same size as Golovkin give or take a few pounds. He punches plenty hard enough to hurt Golovkin, and we saw in the past how Golovkin struggled against former IBF junior middleweight champion Kassim Ouma in June 2011.
Golovkin took a beating in that fight before stopping Ouma in the 10th. This is the same Ouma that had previously been easily beaten by Jermain Taylor, Cornelius Bundrage, Saul Roman, and Vanes Martirosyan, Gabriel Rosado. By the time Ouma fought Golovkin in 2011, he had lost five out of his last seven fights.
It should have been an easy match for Golovkin if he was all that. It turned out to be a terrible struggle for Golovkin to win the fight. The main reason why it was such a hard fight is because Ouma stood in front of Golovkin and returned first each time he was hit, an Golovkin didn’t do well getting hit back.
Golovkin is still the same fighter that struggled against Ouma, and lost to Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov in the 2004 Olympics. The only difference is Golovkin has beaten a lot of weak middleweights since his fight against Ouma.
If Brook can stand in the pocket and fire back with his own power shots for 12 rounds, I think he beats Golovkin without any problems. Brook has the power and the talent to beat Golovkin. Brook has got to stand up to Golovkin and give him a taste of his own medicine.