By Scott Gilfoid: A calm and composed IBF/IBO/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) successfully made weight on Friday in weighing in at a very well-conditioned 158.8 pounds for his title defense against unbeaten welterweight Kell “Special K” Brook (36-0, 32 KOs) this Saturday night on September 10 at the O2 Arena in London, England.
A very energetic and excited Brook weighed in slightly heavier at 159.4lbs. Brook looked good for the most part, but he did look more drained today than he was yesterday. Brook also looked dry around the mouth area and slightly emaciated. I’d be surprised if even a drop of water touched Brook’s mouth in the last day.
Brook looked like he had lost a considerable amount of weight since yesterday’s final press conference. With Brook barely making weigh, he probably had to really ease up big time on the fluids, which would explain why he looked so much thinner. Brook was really playing to the crowd, as if he’s got the victory in the bag already. I think he’s kidding himself. Brook probably should have been a little lower key with his approach to the weigh-in, because it always looks bad when you have a fighter looking like that getting knocked out. With the way Brook was prancing around, you would think he has a good chance of winning the fight rather than him being lined up for Golovkin’s 23rd consecutive knockout.
Golovkin’s 158.8lbs is the lowest for him since his fight against Lajuan Simon in December 2011. That was five years ago, and Golovkin came in at 158.5lbs for that fight and easily dispatched Simon in the 1st round.
If you were to say anything negative about Golovkin, you have to point out that he looked a little ill and not quite at his best in terms of his facial features. Golovkin wasn’t drained, but his eyes looked sunken in, and he doesn’t look healthy. He looks ill to me.
According to Ron Lewis of the Times, Golovkin had to leave Thursday’s final press conference immediately after due to him not feeling well.
“Golovkin cut short the number of interviews he did at today’s Golovkin-Brook press conference because he was feeling unwell,” said Lewis.
Olay, so if Golovkin loses the fight on Saturday to Brook, then many fans will blame it on him being ill. I’m just saying. It’s pretty clear that Golovkin is looking sick right now, and I don’t know how you can give Brook credit if he wins the fight. There might be some boxing fans that will give Brook credit for the win, but it’s probably not going to be many if Golovkin walks into the ring looking as sick as he was today and yesterday.
Golovkin’s eyes look like they’re vacant and he showed absolutely no energy today. While Brook was doing all kinds of chest pumps and showing tons of gleeful emotion after weighing in, Golovkin looked sickly like he needed to lay down. He did not look good.
Golovkin has that power going for him where he could win the fight even if he’s only at 50% capacity, which is what he appeared to be today. The difference between the Golovkin I saw today and the one I saw at his last weigh-in for his fight against Dominic Wade last April is night and day. Golovkin looked much better with a lot more energy at that weigh-in.
Hopefully, Golovkin will be feeling better once he rehydrates and gets some food into his system. I’ve never seen Golovkin look like this before at a weigh-in. He does not look good. If he caught a bug in the cold, cloudy environment of the UK this week, it might be something that could linger. You have to remember that Golovkin now lives in beautiful and sunny Los Angeles, California, where the current temperatures are in the low 80s.
Going from the warm weather of Los Angeles to the overcast and colder weather of London, it would be hard for anybody. I’m just saying. It probably wasn’t a good idea for Golovkin to have an outdoor workout in London this week. If you look at that workout, Golovkin stripped off his shirt at one point and was working out. I was thinking to myself, ‘nothing could come of GGG taking off his shirt.’ The last thing I would have done is strip off my shirt outside on an overcast day in London like we saw Golovkin do. I would have been throwing on jackets and ordering heaters to be set up around the ring so I wouldn’t freeze and wind up with pneumonia.
The real question is did the London weather get to Golovkin or did he eat or drink something while in the UK that has got him ill? Traveling to a cold weather country like the UK might have been a shock to Golovkin’s system. I’ve been in Los Angeles before and it’s always nice and toasty 24/7. I couldn’t imagine getting on a plane and traveling to the UK and then stripping off my shirt for an outside workout. That’s just bad news.
Like I said, I’d be wearing jackets, and have a hood over my head to make sure I didn’t catch a cold. It’s just smart. We really don’t know what’s wrong with GGG, but it’s always better safe than sorry when it comes to traveling to a colder climate like the UK. If Golovkin is going to keep fighting in the UK in the future, then he should at least use his muscle to insist on having the workouts indoors unless it’s a sunny day with temperatures of over 80 degrees. I nice summer day of sweltering heat would be great for an outdoor workout, but definitely not the kind of weather we saw this week for the workout in London. I thought it was a crazy idea for Golovkin to be workout out under those kinds of conditions.
Here are the rest of the weigh-in results for Saturday’s Golovkin-Brook card at the O2 Arena in London, England:
Gennady Golovkin 158.8 vs. Kell Brook 159.4
Lee Haskins 117 vs. Stuart Hall 116.5
John Riel Casimero 111 vs. Charlie Edwards 111
