By Scott Gilfoid: Well, IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin looked INCREDIBLE at today’s final press conference with his opponent Kell Brook for their fight this Saturday night. I wish I could say the same thing about Brook looking good. Believe it or not, Brook looked weight drained today, like a fighter who was struggling to make the 160lb limit.
See for yourself. Watch the video of the press conference to see how drained looking Brook is. It’s not surprising, really. Brook reportedly started off his training camp at 185, and he’s steadily been draining down to try and get to the 160l pound limit. We’re about 25 pounds that Brook will have to drop before he gets to the 160lb limit.
The hardest thing with Brook is that most of the weight is muscle. He’s just a very, very big guy, and he should have moved out of the welterweight division years ago. If you’re draining down from the 180s to fight lighter fighters at 147, it tells me that you don’t have any business fighting in that division. The thing is, Brook is struggling now just to make 160, because the guy is huge.
I expect Brook to make the weight, but I think he’s not going to feeling good on Saturday night when he starts getting nailed. If this fight goes past the 6th round, that’s where you’re going to see Brook have problems, because he’s going to be feeling the negative after effects from dropping all that weight. I mean, I think Brook is going to rehydrate into the 170s for the fight, but it’s still heck a hard to lose that much water weight and out it back on 24 hours before the fight.
I used to have to lose 10 pounds of water weight to make weight in wrestling in high school. I felt terrible because there wasn’t any time to rehydrate. I can’t imagine how I would feel having to lose 15 to 20 pounds and then put it back on 24 hours. Brook is going to felling dog tired if the fight goes past four of five rounds, which I don’t think it will.
“I’ve looked death in the face so this is a doddle,” said Brook to the Sheffield Star. “You’re going to see me perform to my peak. I;’m going to be first with the jab. When he feels the power that I have that’s going to be a strong, powerful and quick middleweight hitting him, not a welterweight.”
Well, if Brook’s video of him sparring with Liam Smith is any indication, then I don’t see Triple G having any problems with the power from “Special K” on Saturday night in their fight at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Brook wasn’t even as strong as Smith. I’m not saying Smith is a weak puncher, because he obviously has a lot of pop in his punches. But in looking at that video, Smith was the MUCH harder puncher of the two, and the better fighter.
Brook just looked like a bloated fighter with a lot of extra muscle on him. It’s unclear when the video of the sparring session took place. Perhaps it was filmed when Brook was a little heavier at the start of his training camp. Never the less, Brook is not going to be hitting harder from having dropped weight. That doesn’t make sense. If Brook wasn’t punching with the same authority as Liam Smith was, then he’s not going to be punching harder now that he’s trimmed down a little. If anything, Brook will be a little weaker for having lost weight.
I just don’t see Brook as having middleweight punching power, I really don’t. I think Brook doesn’t even hit as hard as some of the top junior middleweights like the Charlo brothers, Julian Williams and Demetrius Andrade. When you see those guys punch, it’s pretty impressive. Brook doesn’t have their tall frames, so he get leverage on his shots the way those guys do. They don’t just hit you with a lot of muscle behind their shots. Those guys have long frames that helps them get a ton of leverage to create power. I don’t think it’s even up for debate. Brook does not have the power of guys like the Charlo brothers, Williams, Andrade and Liam Smith. Those guys are bigger punchers. Golovkin is at the top of rung with his power. He hits harder than all of those guys. Brook is so far behind Golovkin in the power department that it’s not even funny.
I’m really worried about Brook in this fight. I think him putting on a lot of muscle mass has planted ideas into his head making him think he can stand and slug with Golovkin. That’s just dumb. If Brook tries to match Golovkin for power in the opening round, it’s going to end straightaway with Golovkin knocking him into the stratosphere with one of his shots. The only thing that Brook can do in this fight is go back to his tired old game plan that he used for the Shawn Porter fight by holding all night long. There’s a chance that Brook can clinch his way to a victory if the judges score points for holding. If the judges don’t value holding, then Brook has no chance of winning.
Brook seems to be very cocky right now going into the Golovkin fight. I don’t expect it to take long for Golovkin to knock the cockiness out of Brook in the 1st round. As soon as Golovkin nails Brook with a peach of a left hook, I think we’ll see a more humble down to earth Brook. At that point, my prediction is for Brook to start with the nonstop holding to try and shut Golovkin’s punch output down to maybe five or six punches thrown per round. If Brook is holding onto him for dear life, then Golovkin won’t be able to let his hands go to any extent. It’ll be up to the referee then to see if he’s going to do his job or not by penalizing Brook for his excessive holding.