(Photo Courtesy/Lawrence Lustig, Matchroom Boxing) By Scott Gilfoid: After recently saying that he’s a natural junior middleweight, Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) is now saying that he’s going to be at his natural weight at 160 when he faces unbeaten IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) in their fight next month on September 10 at the O2 Arena in London, England.
If Brook is going to be at his natural weight of 160 against Golovkin, it begs the question of why Brook has been choosing to fight smaller fighters than himself at welterweight all these years. Was it to get an advantage over them? If so, then how sporting is that.
“People go on about weights, but Mike Tyson wasn’t the biggest heavyweight and he was fighting people three or four stone heavier,” Brook said to skysports.com. “He was an animal. You are going to see the best of me; I am at a natural weight at 160 and watch me perform September 10.”
I fail to see Brook being anything like “Iron” Mike Tyson in terms of power, speed, fighting style, and overall talent. The two fighters are completely different guys. I mean, Tyson was the best fighter in the heavyweight division in his prime. Brook not even be the fifth best welterweight right now. I can’t see Brook beating Errol Spence, Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter without clinching 24/7, Tim Bradley or Amir Khan. I think Jessie Vargas would be a really tough out for Brook as well.
It matters little whether Brook is finally fighting in the correct division for his weight class. I still see him getting obliterated by GGGG next month, and I don’t the weight will make a difference. Brook can rehydreate to 200 and he’s still going to be ion for a world of hurt. His basic problem is he doesn’t have the talent or the power to compete with GGG.
Brook can yap all he wants about him now being at his right weight at middleweight after 12 years as a pro, but the reality is that he doesn’t have the talent or the chin to win this fight in my view.
It is very, very sad that a so-called middleweight like Brook has been melting down all these years to fight against lighter welterweights. If Brook is really a middleweight, then he’s been gaming the system to fight at welterweight. That’s not very sporting, is it? Why was Brook melting down to welterweight if he’s a middleweight? Didn’t Brook feel that he had the talent to fight guys his own size? Why would he need to fight lighter guys in a weight division right for his body? What would boxing fans think of Golovkin if he melted down from middleweight his entire pro career to gain an advantage by fighting smaller guys than himself at welterweight? I’m just saying. I don’t know if I respect Brook now that he’s opening his mouth and blabbering about how he’s finally fighting in his natural weight class.
“I want to go down in history like my heroes, like Sugar Ray Robinson. They have done massive things and, in the modern day, that’s exactly what I want to do,” said Brook. “When we stand next to each other there will be no difference, I am bringing the speed to the middleweight division.”
Brook isn’t all that fast, let’s be honest. He’s got decent speed, but he’s not fast like Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao. Brook isn’t even as fast as WBA middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs. If Brook wants to go down in history as one of the greats like Sugar Ray Robinson, then he’s going to need to put some heat under the backside of his promoter Eddie Hearn to start matching him against the other top guys in the sport like Errol Spence Jr., if he chooses to move back down to 147 after this fight, the Charlo brothers, Jacobs, Demetrius Andrade, Erislandy Lara and Tureano Johnson. Brook has only fought one good fighter during his entire 12-year pro career and that was Shawn Porter, who he clinched all night long to win an ugly, ugly decision in 2014.
Let’s be honest here; that was not a Sugar Ray Robinson type of performance from Brook. I’ve seen many of Robinson’s fights, and he didn’t try and use clinching as a tactic to win his fights. Robinson would actually fight. He wouldn’t decide on clinching over 10 times a round to stall out the offense of his opponents. If Brook is going to be another Sugar Ray Robinson, then I see him as a poor version. Robinson was not a clincher when facing the best. My guess is we’re likely going to see Brook try his clinching tricks against Golovkin to try his best to spoil his way to a close, controversial decision. It won’t work but that’s what I see Brook doing. It will be the opposite type of fight that you would have ever seen from Robinson.