Golovkin vs. Brook head to head at New York press conference

By Boxing News - 07/14/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: Well, IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) and Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) met on Thursday for their first press conference in New York. I must say that there’s not much difference in size between the two fighters.

The two stood side by side on stage and they looked nearly the same in the size department. Golovkin looked muscular and in shape compared to Brook, who appears to be a little chunky and carrying around extra weight. Golovkin already looks like he’s ready to fight. GGG looked in great shape. I wish I could say the same thing for Brook, who just looked blocky and not in shape.

Brook was in the ring just four months ago. How in the heck could Brook get so out of shape in just four months? As far as useful size, Golovkin looks a lot bigger than Brook right now. If you take away all the fat that Brook is carrying around, I see him as considerably smaller than Golovkin. Further, Golovkin looks more athletic an strong compared to Brook.

I have a feeling this is going to be a real beat down with Golovkin chasing Brook around the ring and smashing him every time he corners him. It’ll be a cat and mouse type of fight, and it could get ugly if Brook chooses to hold all night long like he did against Shawn Porter.
Brook, 30, didn’t look scared when he was standing for the face-off with GGG. However, that doesn’t mean anything because he still figures to be in a world of hurt.

“September 10th is the biggest day for me,” said Golovkin at the New York press conference. “A couple of days ago my promotger said, ‘Kell Brook wants to fight with you.’ I said, ‘Wow.! This is big news for me, because I know this guy. He is a very good fighter. He’s very strong. He’s the best in his division. Now I’m very excited. Right now, this is the biggest test for me,” said Golovkin.

Brook is talking about wanting to show Golovkin different looks to give him a dose of finesse as well as his power and hand speed. I read that to mean that we’re probably going to see a lot of holding, running and pot shot fighting from Brook in this fight. We saw Brook use finesse against Shawn Porter in 2014 in clinching him over 10 times per round. You can call that finesse. I call it stalling out the fight. The referee was not on his J-O-B in that fight because he should have taken points off from Brook for his blatant holding.

“This is going to be a very, very hard fight,” said Brook. “I’ve got to do everything right. We’re going to put hard work in training. That’s what I need to for real greatness. I’m welcoming the challenge and i’m ready to take this September 10th,” said Brook.

It’s going to take more than just training for Brook to beat Golovkin. He’s going to need a great chin as well as excellent fitness. Brook will also need a superb game plan. I would hope that he doesn’t choose to pull out the same game plan that he used against Porter by electing to hold all night long, because that would terribly boring to watch.

There’s holding that is acceptable at times like when a fighter needs a breather or when he’s hurt, but then there’s the unacceptable type where a fighter is holding to keep his opponents from getting their shots off. What Brook was doing in the Porter fight was unacceptable with his holding to keep Porter from throwing punches. I think we might see a Brook choose to use the same blueprint for the Golovkin fight, and I think it’s going to be ugly if the referee doesn’t do his job on September 10.

Golovkin and Brook will be fighting on September 10 on HBO World Championship Boxing and on Sky Box Office pay-per-view at the O2 Arena in London, England.

I think we’re going to see Brook use constant movement against Golovkin. I think Brook is going to try and win an ugly decision by throwing pot shots from the outside, running away, and then tying Golovkin up. I see Brook tying Golovkin up each time the Kazakhstan fighter gets near enough to throw his power shots. If the referee doesn’t do his job to police the holding from Brook, then it’ll be up to the judges to decide whether to score the rounds based on Golovkin’s pressure or on Brook’s pot shots, running and holding.