By Scott Gilfoid: IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) lucked out by taking advantage of Chris Eubank Jr’s reluctance to agree to a fight against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 25 KOs) by stepping in agreeing to those very same terms to get a fight against him on September 10. Brook says he’s going to “shock the world” by beating the Kazakhstan fighter.
The Golovkin-Brook fight will be staged at the O2 Arena in London, England. Brook will have the hometown advantage. Whether that will help him or not is debatable. Having the hometown advantage can sometimes help when the fight goes to the scorecards, but I don’t see the Golovkin vs. Brook fight going to the cards.
Golovkin has knocked out everyone he’s faced for the last eight years of his pro career. He’s knocked out 22 consecutive opponents. Yeah, some of the guys Golovkin beat were fodder opponents, but many of them were good solid fighters. Golovkin stopped Matthew Macklin, David Lemieux, and Martin Murray.
Brook is right; it would be a huge shock if he beats GGG, but it’s also not too likely. Brook is going to be out of his class in terms of size, power, height, reach, experience and pedigree. Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn says this will be the first time Golovkin has fought an elite fighter in his career. I don’t know if I agree with that, but if Hearn wants to believe that, he’s welcome to do so. Brook has only fought one good fighter himself during his career, and Shawn Porter, who Brook resorted to holding all night long to beat him by a very, very close 12 round decision.
Thank you all for the respect and the support! Now it's time for me to shock the world! #2weight #2time
— Kell Brook (@SpecialKBrook) July 8, 2016
Here are Brook’s options to try and defeat GGG on September 10:
1. Moving nonstop in large circles around ring: This is the circle fighting approach used frequently by WBA welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman. It works against fighters that don’t know how to cut off the ring. Unfortunately for Brook, Golovkin DOES know how to cut off the ring. As such, circle fighting will be a huge waste of time and energy for Brook. I wouldn’t recommend Brook using that approach unless he wants to tire himself out and get knocked out quicker.
2. Slugging it out: Believe it or not, but I think this is the best strategy for Brook. I know it’s bad one, but it’s still the best option Brook has. Brook has got to use what got him to this level. His success has always been based on his punching power. If Brook tries to deviate away from that against Golovkin, then I see him getting taken out quicker than he otherwise would.
3. Clinching constantly to keep Golovkin from punching: We’ve already seen this approach used against Golovkin by Martin Murray and it didn’t work at all, period. Golovkin used a couple of methods to deal with Murray’s holding. He first pounded Murray hard while being held. The shots that Golovkin was able to hit Murray with while being held were very hurtful looking. The other method Golovkin used to deal with Murray’s holding was to step back each time he would try to hold.
4. Jabbing from the outside: Brook cannot beat Golovkin in the jabbing department because his jab isn’t nearly as good and his arms are too short. Brook lacks the arm length to beat Golovkin in a war of jabs.
5. Moving in and out of range: My guess is Brook will use a variation of this strategy and circle fighting to keep away from Golovkin. I’m afraid that neither of these strategies will work because Golovkin will cut off the ring and force Brook to fight whether he wants to or not.
It’s going to be very tough on Brook to try and win this fight against Golovkin, because his fighting style is made to order for him. Golovkin loves to fight sluggers. It makes his job easier when he fights those type of guys. First and foremost, Brook is a puncher. That’s what he does best. The only fight in his 12-year pro career where he deviated from that role was in his fight against Shawn Porter in 2014. In that fight, Brook went from a slugger to a spoiler. Brook smothered Porter’s offense for 12 rounds on the inside by holding him repeatedly each time the American fighter would attempt to throw punches. Brook slowed the fight down to single shots followed by holding. That approach will not work against Golovkin.
If Brook is going to have a chance of beating Golovkin on September 10, then he’s going to need to come up with a different strategy than simply holding or slugging. Brook will probably need to jab and move for 12 rounds to keep from getting taken out by Triple G. Brook is kind of heavy on his feet, and I don’t think he can elude Golovkin for more than a round or two at the most before he’s trapped and forced into a war. Brook can run, but I don’t think it’s going to help in this case. Brook can try and hold 10 to 15 times per round like he did against Shawn Porter, but that plan is a fail as well. Golovkin knows how to deal with clinchers.