By Scott Gilfoid: Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) is seen using WBO junior middleweight champion Liam “Beefy” Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs) for sparring help to get ready for his upcoming September 10 fight against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) next Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, England. What shockingly jumps out at me in looking at this brief bit of sparring was how Smith, 27, appeared to be the much sharper puncher of the two.
Smith landed the much harder blows, and he had little problems pressuring Brook. Smith was able to stay close to Brook at all times by following around the ring and waiting for opportunities to nail him with his harder punches. Smith is a junior middleweight, and he probably was lighter than Brook during the sparring session.
What’s painfully obvious in watching the sparring session is how Brook’s power hasn’t carried up with him from the welterweight division to the middleweight division. Yeah, Brook is bigger now, a lot bigger, but he’s not punching any harder than he was at 147. I can’t see any difference, can you? Liam Smith is clearly the MUCH harder puncher compared to Brook during their session. The thing is, Smith’s power is nothing like that of Golovkin. He doesn’t hit nearly as hard as him, yet he was getting the better of Brook during their session.
During one instance during the sparring session, Smith lands a jarring right hand to the head of Brook that seemed to shake him to his very foundations. That punch was nothing compared to the kind of shots that Golovkin is going to be landing against Brook on Saturday night in their fight at the O2 Arena. If Smith was able to nail Brook with a shot like that to momentarily stun him, then you’ve got to expect Golovkin to do far, far more with his bigger shots. Smith’s body punching seemed to bother Brook as well.
Smith didn’t throw a lot of body shots against Brook, but the ones that he did throw, they appeared to take away the forward momentum of Brook. I can only imagine what Smith would do to Brook if this were an actual fight. I think Smith would weaken Brook with body shots before knocking him out.
After watching this brief flip of the Brook-Smith sparring session, I have doubts in my mind that Liam Smith would beat Brook if the two of them were to face each other. Brook, a fighter that was never fast to begin with for a welterweight, is now clearly slower after having bulked up for the Golovkin fight. Smith hits too hard for Brook to take the kind of shots that he likes to throw.
I must admit that I was impressed with Liam Smith’s punching power. I knew he was a puncher from watching many of his other fights, but I’d forgotten how powerful this guy is. He’s kind of like the junior middleweight division’s version of Mikey Garcia. Smith doesn’t throw a lot of punches, because he’s really patient with the way he likes to wait before unloading to the body and the head. But when Smith does throw a shot, he does it with tremendous power. The shots are very heavy, and it’s obviously not easy for his opponents to take that kind of power. If Smith can throw enough punches against Saul Canelo Alvarez in their fight on September 17, he might beat him. Smith has very good power. He just can’t let Canelo rest by being economical with his punches.
For the boxing fans that pay to see the Brook vs. Golovkin fight on Sky Box Office pay-per-view, they might be disappointed on Saturday night if they’re supporters of Brook, because no way do I see him having a chance of beating the Kazakhstan star. Any doubts that I had in my mind that Golovkin will win and win easily were erased entirely after watching Brook spar with Liam Smith. Brook just does not have the same kind of power that a guy like Golovkin has going for him.
After seeing the Brook-Smith sparring, I think Brook has no other choice but to run and hold Golovkin all night, because he seriously cannot fight the guy and expect to last more than three rounds at best. If Golovkin is able to land with maximum power early in their contest on Saturday, I cannot see Brook lasting more than three rounds at the most. No one can take the kind of punching power that Golovkin has going for him, least of all a pumped up welterweight like Brook. To be sure, Brook looks big, but he has body building muscles that are totally useless for fighting. He’s not any faster, and his power is still the same as it was. This is what I was afraid of when I saw that Brook was bulking up for the Golovkin fight. Brook put on a ton of muscles, but they were the useless type of muscles that do nothing but make you look good for the beach, but not for actual fighting.
“Kell Brook has got good power. He’s not bigger than Triple G,” said Bradley to Fighthub.com. “He’s got some good size to him as a welterweight. 160 is a lot of weight, but I always give a guy a shot until they get hit. Once they get hit, we’ll see how they deal with it,” said Bradley.
“I thought it was a smart move,” said Bradley about Brook moving up from welterweight to take the fight with Triple G. “I look at it this way. He’s getting that gravy. He’s getting that money. He don’t lose his belt at 147, and he gets the opportunity to face one of the best middleweights of this time,” said Bradley.
Bradley went onto say that he would be open to fighting Golovkin. I doubt that Bradley was serious though, because he just got worked over by Manny Pacquiao last April, and he did not look good. The light hitting Bradley would have no chance against Golovkin, and I don’t think the U.S boxing community would be in favor of a mismatch like that. Bradley needs to stick with light hitters like Jessie Vargas rather than risking his hide against major punchers like Golovkin.