By Dan Ambrose: IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin met with his opponent for his next fight Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) earlier today in their kickoff press conference at in New York. This was the first time these two fighters had been in the same room with each other, and enabled them to size each other up before their fight on September 10 at the O2 Arena in London, England.
Golovkin immediately noticed that the 30-year-old Brook was the same height as him, as well as being very big in terms of overall size. Brook looked nothing like a welterweight at all. He looked like a middleweight just like Golovkin. If Brook’s size remains the same as it is now, it could make for an interesting figh with two fighters of equal size battling it out on September 10 on Sky Box Office and HBO.
“’Just seeing him for the first time now, it was very interesting for me,” said Golovkin. “I respect Kell – he is a man and he is a true fighter. This is the biggest test for me. He is the same height as me and he’s a big guy. I saw a couple of his fights and he is a strong guy, the best fighter in his division.”
Whether this will be the “biggest test” for Golovkin or not will be determined on what Brook brings to the ring in this fight. Brook , 30, seems to be peaking right now in his career with him looking good in his last three fights against Jo Jo Dan, Frankie Gavin and Kevin Bizier.
Brook looked good in those fights, but those fights were against very poor welterweights. None of those fighters should be ranked in the top 15, and the International Boxing Federation had Bizier and Jo Jo Dan ranked No.1 at the time that Brook fought them. Brook’s last real fight was against Shawn Porter in 2014. That was a close affair despite what some of Brook’s fans claim.
It was a close fight, and Brook didn’t really distinguish him as being capable of fighting in the traditional sense. Brooked tied Porter up all night long to prevent him from throwing punches. It was like watching a replay of the Lennox Lewis vs. Henry Akinwande fight. Brook will need to do a lot more than that if he wants to beat Golovkin, because he can’t win with that kind of fighting. Martin Murray already tried the Brook approach in his fight against Golovkin last year, and it didn’t work out too well for him.
“Sugar Ray Leonard boxed Marvin Hagler and beat him,” said Brook. “My favorite fighter, Sugar Ray Robinson, has done that and to be a great fighter you have got to do great things. For me, a welterweight, to step up and take on the most feared fighter in the world in Golovkin – to take this fight, it’s going to be hard. Everything is going to have to be spot on in training, I’ve got to do everything right. Anything short of that I am not going to come up with the goods. We’re going to put the hard work in with the training; we’re going to go through hell in this training camp. But that’s what you need to do to reach greatness.”
It would help Brook if he had some kind of step up fights to get him ready for a fight against Golovkin. That’s the entire problem that Brook has. He’s not had a real fight in two years since the Porter fight, and now he’s moving up two divisions to fight the best fighter at 160. It’s a terrible recipe for failure for Brook. He might have the size to be in the ring with Golovkin, but he doesn’t have the experience of being in with other talented middleweights. But more importantly, Brook has a shortage of quality he’s faced during his career in the welterweight division.
Brook might not even be the best fighter in the welterweight division. Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn says he’s the No1 fighter at 147, but he’s saying that without proof because he’s not matched him against the best other than the Porter fight.
“I know it will be an amazing atmosphere with huge fans – true fans – and it is the biggest test for us,” Golovkin said. “I am very excited. I know London fans are huge fans, and that I respect. They understand boxing and I want to bring the UK fans a big, dramatic show,” said Golovkin to the dailymail.co.uk.