Kell Brook V Gennady Golovkin Set For September Clash

The Boxing world was recently shook up again when news was announced undefeated IBF Welterweight Champion Kell Brook would be challenging Middleweight King Gennady Golovkin on UK shores in September later this year. The big shock wasnt just that Kell Brook would be climbing up two weight divisions to fight one of the worlds best
pound for pound boxers, but because for the past month or more we have all been led to believe it would middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jnr who would be stepping into the ring with Golovkin. It seems Matchroom promotions hit a stumbling block in their negotiations with Chris Eubank Snr and the same contract was then offered to Kell Brook who readily accepted the £3m offer, and who can blame him, Brook has always been a big welterweight, often having to lose as much as 3st to make weight for a fight, I personally think Brook would suit being a light middleweight more(154lbs) but the 160lb weight for this fight won’t bother him so much. Brook also will continue to be the IBF champion at welterweight if he loses the fight, so all he stands to really lose is his undefeated record should Golovkin triumph in September. Low risk high reward.
He will also raise his profile in the states by taking on Golovkin, so more big money fights will await him after the fight regardless of the outcome, and knowing Brooks rivalry with Khan, he is bound to be relishing in the fact he has upstaged Khan, who also jumped up in weight to take on Saul Alvarez, by taking part in a fight which is even bigger than Khans was. Spare a thought for Eubank Jnr though, it seems there is little blame to be directed towards him as by all accounts it was his father Eubank Snr who presented the promotional teams with problems they were unable to work around.

Would Eubank Jnr have fared well against Golovkin? Personally I believe it was far too early for him, he has been left with egg on his face after a war of words online and a bruised ego having been catapulted for Kell Brook, a man not even in the same weight division, but only Eubank Jnr can tell you whether a bruised ego is better than a bruised face had the fight gone ahead. I have a lot of admiration for Eubank Jnrs skills, he is quick, has a good punch and combinations with an exciting style but he has yet to step into the ring with a truly world class middleweight, you could say he did against Billy Joe Saunders, a world champion, but Eubank Jnr lost the fight, albeit closely. Golovkin though, is a whole new kettle of fish. Maybe Saul Alvarez should negotiate a fight with Eubank Jnr since they both ‘missed’ out against Golovkin….(and the loser can fight Amir Khan) I would have picked Golovkin over Eubank Jnr but I do feel Eubank Jnr would perform better than many of us believe, but thats not the debate for this article, lets move onto the chances of Kell Brook against the baby faced assassin.

As mentioned earlier, Amir Khan moved up in weight to challenge Saul Alvarez. The fight went the way many predicted it would, Khans superior speed would give him the edge in the earlier rounds but the more the fight wore on, the closer Alvarez would get to hunting him down, cutting off the ring and lessening Khans chances of success. The ending came in brutal fashion, a sickening blow leaving Khan on the canvas for minutes. The difference in size and power between the smaller and faster Khan with the bigger and stronger Alvarez was evident from the start. Will this fight go the same way and does Brook stand a chance against Golovkin?
I believe it will, perhaps the ending will not be quite as brutal, it may not even be a knock out but a good big’un beats a good little’un and Golovkin is the more natural middleweight of the two and will be the bigger man come fight night. Golovkin is also a serious puncher, do not underestimate how hard he punches, this is a guy who has been fighting all of his life, from the days of being a young child when his brothers would take him into the town and pick out men for him to fight with, to 350 amateur fights and 35 professional fights(undefeated with 32 KO’s). He’s also never been knocked out or down in the amateur/pro ranks so the likelihood of a Welterweight knocking him out presents about as much chance as seeing Eubank Snr V Nigel Benn part III. Golovkin is a master of cutting off the ring and an expert counter puncher, skills often overlooked due to his excessive punching power.

So it sounds like Brook has no chance, I know people will say well its been done before, Sugar Ray Leonard against Marvin Hagler for example, but the difference is, Leonard was already an all time great at this point, Brook, as impressive as he has been in his career, is no Sugar Ray. I will add though, Brook is a heavy hitter in his own right, and fighting at a heavier weight will give him even more power, he has the power to trouble Golovkin for sure, he is also very accurate and has great timing – tools needed to beat Golovkin, but being the lighter man and with far less experience will count against him when he takes on Golovkin. We also dont really know how well he takes a punch, it is debatable whether Brook had a lucky escape in his 1st fight against Carson Jones, but how well will he handle taking a punch not just from a standard middleweight and heavier guy, but the biggest punching middleweight in the world!
All said and done, I will be pulling for Kell Brook, I have a soft spot for him after a friend of mine was part of Brook’s training camps a few yrs ago and Brook very kindly signed two posters and sent them to my boys, so I root for him pretty much every time he fights but you almost get the feeling this fight was taken for the money and future exposure rather than a genuine belief of winning the fight, Brook has been looking for that big signature money making fight for some time and this opportunity presented itself, he deserves a big pay day with his career and credentials and I wish him the best of luck, when you talk about the best P4P boxers in the world, six boxers spring to mind(in no particular order) Guillermo Rigondeaux, Vasyl Lomachenko, Andre Ward, Sergey Kovalev, Roman Gonzalez and Gennady Golovkin. The Special One has his work cut out, but if he manages to pull off an upset, the boxing world will be at his feet. For Golovkin, after his fight with Brook, personally I hope he can move up in weight, the same way Brook has moved up to challenge him, as there really is no one to challenge him in the division and he is the most avoided fighter in the world let alone the division, he most likely wont because he has a big money fight potentially in the future when he faces Saul Alvarez hopefully in the latter part of 2017 but if I were Golovkin, I wouldn’t put my trust in Golden Boy promotions words. There is also the possibility of still fighting Eubank Jnr after Brook, but will Golovkin want to give him a go after the way negotiations went at the first attempt? Golovkin and his team could well do without the headache. In the meantime, lets look forward to a clash between two undefeated world champions, its not often we are treated to that!