By Scott Gilfoid: Welterweight Kell “Special K” Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) says that his natural weight is 160 pounds, and that when he’s in training camp at that weight before draining down to 147 for welterweights, he’s a lot stronger at that weight. Brook feels that by the time he gets down to 147, he’s not as strong because he can’t eat and it takes a lot out of him to make the weight.
With Brook now signed to fight IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) on September 10 at the full weight of 160 pounds for the middleweight division, Brook can now eat and keep his weight at 160.
Brook will still be giving away weight against the 170+ pound Golovkin if he keeps his weight at 160 throughout the entire training camp.
“If you ask any of my sparring partners when I get down to that natural weight of 160lbs, I’m a beast,” said Brook to skysports.com. “I’m a different animal. When I’m a middleweight in training, I’m a different animal. What it takes for me to get down to 147lbs is really hard. Anyone who knows me will tell you.”
Just how much of a beast Brook is at 160 is unknown. It’s his view of things, and we don’t necessarily know that he’s any better at that weight than he is at 147. It’s possible that Brook’s punching power won’t carry up to the middleweight division. When you see the punches that Brook landed against his last opponent Kevin Bizier and compare them to some of the shots from the top middleweights like David Lemieux, they don’t look as powerful as him.
Lemieux appears to be a better puncher than Brook. This begs the question if Brook can’t hit as hard as Lemieux, then how does he ever hope to defeat a fighter in the class as Golovkin?
Brook is a fine welterweight, and possibly the No.6 guy in the division behind Errol Spence, Keith Thurman, Tim Bradley, Shawn Porter, and Danny Garcia. But it’s one thing being No.6 in the 147lb division and another thing to move up to take on the No.1 fighter in the middleweight division.
It doesn’t really add up. If you’re talking about a welterweight who isn’t even the best welterweight taking on the top dog at middleweight in Golovkin, then there’s going to be some problems. I don’t believe that Golovkin is unbeatable. I think he can be beaten, even by a welterweight. I just don’t think it’s Brook that is capable of doing the job. He’s too slow, too mechanical, and too limited in terms of skills. The only welterweight that I think might do the job on Golovkin is Errol Spence Jr. He’s got the size, power and the inside fighting skills to give Golovkin a ton of problems. Spence would be backing Golovkin up the entire fight and nailing him with body shots. It would be a real war from start to finish.
“I’m so excited to see what I can do. We know what we can do in training before we strip down. We’re going to shock the world on September 10,” said Brook. “Already my strength is proving unbelievable. I’m looking forward to feeling his power. I just can’t wait to get in. We’re making history in this fight.”
I see Brook as Willie Monroe Jr. 2.0. It’s the same confidence that we saw from Monroe Jr. before the fight. Brook is talking himself up the way that Monroe did in the run up to his fight against Golovkin. In looking at the two guys going into the fight, you would think that Monroe was going to win because he was so, so confident of victory. It’s the same confidence that we’re seeing now with Brook.
Unfortunately when Monroe got in the ring with Golovkin, he was totally over-matched from the get go. Golovkin toyed with Monroe Jr. and kept him around until stopping him in the 6th. I think Monroe is a better fighter than Brook. They both have similar punching power.
If Monroe melted down to fight at 147 the way that Brook does, I could see him having the same exact record as him if he were matched against the same guys that Brook has fought. There’s nobody on Brook’s resume that Monroe Jr. couldn’t beat. He wouldn’t even need to hold nonstop to beat Shawn Porter. Monroe would out-box him.