By Stephen Wilkinson: Gennady Golovkin’s (35-0, 32 KO’s) upcoming title defence against Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KO’s) has got everybody talking. Those who love the match up are talking about it, those that hate it are complaining about it. But everybody is talking about it and everybody is going to watch it. It’s not often that two undefeated, top ten pound for pound fighters meet. In London on September 10th two fighters with a combined record of 71-0 come together in a fight that nobody saw coming.
When the fight was announced it caused a genuine surprise, not just because it was presumed that GGG was going to figh Chris Eubank Jr. There had been no speculation of Brook fighting GGG. The thought had probably only fleetingly crossed the minds of the most fanciful of fight fans. Yet the fight was made, with apparent enthusiasm from both sides. So here we find ourselves, mere weeks from the fight still somewhat surprised that it is actually happening.
In a year that has seen some massive showdowns, GGG – Brook is perhaps the biggest of them all. There is something about this fight that has created a bit of magic, some kind of X factor that has captured the imagination of not just fight fans but sports fans too. It’s like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez – Amir Khan but just a bit better.
Critics of the fight point to the Canelo – Khan fight as evidence as to why fighters shouldn’t jump weight classes and those critics are probably right, particularly when you consider that Brook is going all the way to 160lbs and not to a 155lb catch-weight. There is a feeling however that Kell Brook is more streetwise than Amir Khan. Where Khan could indeed outbox Canelo before the inevitable chilling knockout arrived, Brook knows he won’t be simply able to outbox GGG. He might have to flip the script over and get close to GGG. He is going to have to come and fight him.
Nobody is really sure what Kell Brook at his best is capable of. His journey since his title winning display against Shawn Porter has been troubled to say the least. Not long after that night in California, Brook received serious injuries in a machete attack. Recalling the attack that left him with 32 staples in his left leg, Brook told of a house from where he stumbled ‘with blood spurting everywhere, panicking, thinking I was going to die’, per The Daily Mail. There were genuine fears that Brook would never walk again, never mind step back into the ring at the highest level. Yet 6 months later, on March 28, 2015, he was back in the ring.
After his recovery he had a routine win over his mandatory challenger Jo Jo Dan followed by a knockout win over domestic challenger Frankie Gavin. It seemed as though Brook was finally going to get a decent challenge when the tough Diego Chavez signed to fight in Sheffield. However, Brook’s ill fortune struck again as a rib injury forced the cancellation of the proposed showdown. Brook’s last outing was another mandatory defence of his IBF crown, this time against the hopelessly overmatched Kevin Bizier. Eddie Hearn has spoken of the difficulty of getting top challengers to face Brook and when it seemed as if the negotiations for the Jesse Vargas fight were going on for too long there was the prospect of a big fight once again passing Brook by. Then came to call to fight GGG.
As a challenge it doesn’t get any tougher for Kell Brook. The jump in weight is an obvious disadvantage. It was presumed that Brook would jump up to light-middleweight in 2017 but to jump straight to middleweight is a big ask. Brook says he feels stronger when he is sparring at 160lbs. It is however very different sparring at 160lbs and fighting at the weight. Brook isn’t dipping his toe into the middleweight division against a domestic rival or a fringe contender, he is jumping in against the most feared puncher in boxing. Golovkin has stopped his last 22 opponents, most of them in brutal fashion. His KO percentage is 91% which is the highest of any middleweight champion in history. Golovkin’s boxing pedigree, as shown in his outstanding amateur record of 345-5, means that out-boxing him is incredibly difficult. Not many fighters can cut off the ring like Golovkin can and there is always an ominous sense of inevitability when he is walking down his opponents. He will walk down Kell Brook. He will walk though his punches if he has to. He will get close to him and start landing his concussive shots. This fight is all about how Kell Brook fights when he has Golovkin on top of him. Brook has already shown guts to take the fight, he has to show even more to take the fight to Golovkin and somehow do what no middleweight has even came close to doing – get GGG going backwards.
In many ways, without overlooking the dangers of stepping into the ring, this is a win- win fight for Kell Brook. He will retain his IBF Welterweight title regardless of what happens against Golovkin. The magnitude of the fight and the excitement around the build-up will raise Brooks profile higher than his proposed unification with Jesse Vargas would have done and no one will ever question Kell Brooks desire to take the big challenges ever again.
There are those who feel that Brook isn’t a legitimate fight for the undisputed middleweight king, but in fairness who is? In the top ten rated middleweights who could genuinely expect to last more than a few rounds with Golovkin? Danny Jacobs perhaps. WBO king Billy Joe Saunders hasn’t fought since winning the title last December. Andy Lee would be game for a fight against Golovkin but would surely be caught sooner rather than later. Peter Quillin has already shown his vulnerability against Andy Lee and Danny Jacobs, while number 4 ranked David Lemieux and number 9 ranked Dominic wade have already fallen to Golovkin. Golden Boy have mooted Autumn 2017 for a possible Canelo Alvarez fight. So when negotiations with Chris Eubank Jr stalled where was left for GGG to go? When Eddie Hearn made the call to Brook three things happened: GGG got a fight against a willing challenger, Brook got a fight that can make him a superstar and boxing got a fight that got everybody talking.
This is a fight that Golovkin is expected to win, and he probably will knock Kell Brook out. We sometimes forget amidst failed negotiations, contractual disputes and legal wrangling that fighters want to fight. They want to challenge the best, they want to prove themselves as the best. Kell Brook and Gennady Golovkin both just want to fight. Kell Brook is daring to dream in the most dangerous arena of them all. The man who so nearly lost it all that night in Tenerife has a chance, however slim, to shock the world and put himself at the very pinnacle of his sport.