Gennady Golovkin vs. Kell Brook: Head-to-Toe Breakdown of Both Fighters
In a development that's sure to stun the boxing world, unified middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin announced via his Twitter on Friday afternoon that he would defend his 160-pound titles on September 10 against current IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook at the O2 Arena in London.
It will be televised on HBO.
The deal came with no prior warning and with both men seemingly headed toward other bouts.
Golovkin was widely believed to be closing in on a deal with middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr., who talked a big game and then turned down the fight, per Dan Rafael of ESPN. There had been rumors earlier in the year about a GGG-Brook showdown, but it seemed like a pipe dream at the time.
Brook was supposed to unify 147-pound titles with Jessie Vargas, but that fight fell apart over the latter's financial demands, per Phil D. Jay of World Boxing News. Brook was reportedly unhappy that he would've had to take the smaller purse to accommodate Vargas.
The fight will not be contested at a catchweight but at the full middleweight limit.
Here, we break down the fight and the fighters.
This is your head-to-toe breakdown of Golovkin vs. Brook!
Fight Info
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Main Event: Gennady Golovkin vs. Kell Brook; 12 rounds for Golovkin's WBC, WBA and IBF Middleweight Championships
Where: O2 Arena, London
When: September 10, 2016
TV: HBO World Championship Boxing
The Fighters
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| Gennady Golovkin | Kell Brook | |
| Record | 35-0, 32 KO | 36-0, 25 KO |
| Age | 34 | 30 |
| Height | 5'10.5" | 5'9" |
| Weight | 159 (last fight) | 146.5 (last fight) |
| Reach | 70" | 69" |
| Stance | Orthodox | Orthodox |
| Hometown | Karaganda, Kazakhstan | Sheffield, United Kingdom |
| Rounds | 155 | 179 |
| Last Fight | KO 2 Dominic Wade (4/23/16) | TKO 2 Kevin Bizier (3/26/16) |
All stats and information per BoxRec.com.
What You Need to Know
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Golovkin
GGG's trouble landing a high-profile fight has been documented to death by this point. Most fans hoped that he'd get a crack at Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez this fall, but Golden Boy Promotions preferred to put that bout off until next year at the earliest, leading many fans to declare Canelo a ducker.
Plan B was expected to be Eubank, but when the British champion pulled the plug, Golovkin's promotional team, led by Tom Loeffler, immediately signed up Brook. It'll be interesting to see how boxing fans react to the Kazakh knockout artist reaching for a smaller fighter.
"I'm very excited to be fighting in front of the great British boxing fans and promise another 'Big Drama Show' against undefeated Kell Brook," Golovkin said in a press release announcing the fight. "I give him much respect for taking this fight."
Brook
There's really not a whole lot you can say here for Brook beyond bravo. The unbeaten welterweight champion had been hoping for a big fight after seeing his momentum stall a bit, and he immediately jumped at the opportunity to fight boxing's most feared fighter in a bout most won't give him much chance to win.
You can call its gutsy, smart business or even stupid, but Brook deserves credit for taking the risk to move away from a proposed fight with Vargas for the huge chance against Golovkin. He showed more guts in taking this fight than both Canelo and Eubank, who both ran for the hills when things got real.
"This is the fight and the moment I have been waiting for for some time," Brook said in a press release. "When this fight got offered to me I accepted within minutes and I can't wait. ... This is the ultimate fight, one of the biggest international fights the country has seen in many years—you have seen some huge names run from GGG but I'm running to him."
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Boxing Ability
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Golovkin
GGG is a terminator in the ring. He's technically sound and has the thudding, concussive force on his shots (which he mixes to both levels) to either break down an opponent or put out the lights with one big shot.
His jab is one of his best assets as a fighter. He's sharp and precise with that punch, which really lands as more of a power shot and has dropped opponents in the past.
Golovkin is comfortable at distance, where he can control things with his jab, or at backing his opponent up until there is nowhere left to go and then unleashing hellacious combinations that usually end with some ugly sounds and winces from his opponent.
Brook
Brook was a big, strong welterweight with solid fundamentals. He has a good sense of timing and distance in the ring, which is something that he'll need to have in abundance this September if he hopes to have any shot at the upset.
He throws precise, compact punches and has a solid, powerful uppercut. There are some holes in his game, particularly on the defensive end, which could cost him here.
Brook has good physical strength and is adept at keeping the fight where he wants it.
Advantage
Both Golovkin and Brook are solid technical fighters, but GGG just has more weapons at this weight. He's excellent at cutting off the ring, and that should be the story of this fight.
Power
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Golovkin
GGG is one of boxing's hardest punchers, if not the hardest. You can't really appreciate the devastating force with which every punch in his arsenal lands unless you've seen it up close.
His opponent's always have that "oh boy" look the first time they taste his power.
Golovkin has knocked out 22 straight opponents and has a 91 percent knockout ratio overall, a middleweight championship record. We can wax poetic all day long, but, suffice it to say, the guy hits like a truck, and he can knock you out to the head or the body.
Brook
Brook carried some nice pop on his punches at 147 pounds, but it's going to take a lot of convincing for us to believe that his power is going to translate two weight divisions north. His speed, maybe, but bigger, stronger men haven't dinged Golovkin, so skepticism is in order.
The Brit does have a really nice uppercut and has knocked 25 men out. This is just a totally different world.
Advantage
Golovkin, presented without further comment.
Defense
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Golovkin
Golovkin has a very sound defense and a chin of granite.
He's never been knocked down, in either the amateurs or in 35 professional fights, and he doesn't seem the slightest bit worried about what his opponents can do when he does get into firefights.
GGG's massive power definitely aids in his defensive game. Opponents are usually too concerned with protecting themselves to get a whole lot of their own offense rolling.
Brook
Remember those holes in Brook's game we referenced earlier?
That's a very, very bad thing to have against a fighter like Golovkin, who really doesn't need a whole lot of help but is viciously efficient when it comes to exploiting anything you give him.
Brook isn't a bad defensive fighter by any means. He just leaves some openings when he's on the attack, and you can't do that when your opponent has the type of power that GGG possesses.
Advantage
Golovkin. He hasn't shown very many holes, and, even when he has gotten hit, nobody has been able to do much more than make him blink.
Game Plan
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Golovkin
GGG isn't going to change much, and nothing says he needs to.
He needs to be cautious of Brook's speed and cut off the ring effectively. So long as he's able to do that, he should be able to force the fight into spaces in the ring that aren't going to be very comfortable for the Brit. Not for his strategy and not for the pieces of his body that will be pummeled.
Golovkin will stalk, zero in and take his man out.
Brook
Brook needs to find a way to spend 12 rounds doing what Amir Khan successfully managed for about half that against Canelo Alvarez earlier this year.
Speed figures to be his one significant advantage, so he needs to try to keep the fight on the outside and do everything possible to limit GGG's ability to score at anything resembling close range.
If he can box and move, not get caught and/or take the shots he does have to eat, then maybe he has a chance.
Advantage
Brook needs to be perfect, literally perfect to win this fight. Golovkin just needs to be himself. That makes it a clean sweep for the Central Asian destroyer.
Early Prediction
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Everyone was caught off guard by the announcement of this fight.
There was nary even a whisper that it was coming, even as rumors that potential problems had surfaced in the negotiations for each man's upcoming fight did get some legs. It just didn't seem plausible until it happened.
Brook deserves a world of credit. He's in a no-lose situation here.
He's shown more bravery than fighters bigger and stronger than him, and it's all house money from here.
But he's going to lose, and it's probably going to be a bad loss.
Golovkin scared away Canelo, who is literally the only fighter around middleweight who people would argue could provide him with some competition, and jumped at a name fighter who will provide him with some exposure in another of boxing's massive markets.
You can like that from a business perspective, but it's probably a safe bet to say that Special K becomes No. 23 on GGG's rapidly growing list of consecutive men to end the night off their feet. After all, the guy hasn't even heard the final bell since 2008.
Brook may have some moments of success in the early going by boxing and moving, but GGG is a tremendous stalker and will cut off the ring and end the fight inside the distance.
Prediction: Golovkin KO 6
All quotes were obtained firsthand.
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