Kell Brook Goes All-In as He Gambles on an Upset Against Gennady Golovkin

The announcement on Friday that Gennady Golovkin will fight in London on September 10 didn’t come as a surprise. The identity of his opponent, however, was a bombshell the boxing world was not prepared for.

Chris Eubank Jr. was seemingly the only horse running in the GGG stakes.

The British middleweight champion had made it clear he wanted to take on the best fighter around in the 160-pound division.

Golovkin boasts a 35-0 (32 KOs) record and holds the IBF, WBA (Super) and WBC titles.

However, it turns out there was a late entry in the race. Out of nowhere, Kell Brook pipped his compatriot at the post to earn the chance to face the Kazakh at the O2 Arena in the English capital.

That’s Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) the IBF welterweight champion, an admittedly unbeaten fighter himself but one accustomed to campaigning at 147 pounds.

After boxing journalists and fans alike picked their jaws up from the floor, Twitter was awash with opinions.

You know it’s something out of the ordinary when even pro fighters seem a little taken aback by the news:

The last time a fight announcement created such a stir was when Amir Khan signed a deal to fight Saul Alvarez—again, a regular welterweight taking on a middleweight world champion.

But, unlike Khan’s calculated risk against Canelo in May, there is no catchweight limit agreed in the contract between Brook and Golovkin. There’s no middle ground for the pair at middleweight, meaning the challenger is preparing to paddle out into very deep water indeed.

Except he's not paddling out. He's not even dipping his toe in the water beforehand by taking a warm-up outing at 160 pounds. The Englishman is instead cannonballing his way into the division.

Just like Khan, Brook deserves respect for taking a chance. Even his long-time rival praised the ambitious career move on Twitter:

But (and it's a seriously big but), will the gamble pay off?

Like Khan, Brook's biggest issue is the step up in weight.

Tom Loeffler, GGG’s promoter, told Mitch Abramson of The Ring magazine: "Kell’s a big welterweight and Gennady is a small middleweight.

"So when you see them standing side-by-side you’ll see. I think Kell is 5'9" and Gennady is 5'10" so there’s not going to be a big physical difference."

Loeffler was almost right with his measurements—Golovkin is listed as 5′10½” by BoxRec.

Al Bello/Getty Images

Brook is definitely a big welterweight. Now, though, he has taken the decision to give up one of his major assets—his strength.

The Special One can physically overwhelm the majority of his rivals at 147. He dealt with Shawn Porter's swarming, strong-armed style to win the IBF title in 2014, yet he cannot risk doing the same against Golovkin, another pressure fighter who stalks opponents around the ring.

He's also going to have to hope his chin can cope with the added pressure of facing a power puncher who boasts a career knockout ratio of 91 per cent.

Golovkin hasn't been taken the distance since June 2008—and even then it was an eight-rounder. You can run, but you cannot hide.

Yet, despite all the concerns, Brook is absolutely right to jump at the opportunity.

Like those attending a rather soggy Glastonbury festival this year, the Sheffield fighter had become bogged down at welterweight. Despite being a world champion, he's found willing opponents hard to come by (at least he has at the right price).

With the governing body also forcing upon him two out-of-their-depth mandatory challengers in Jo Jo Dan and Kevin Bizier, plus untimely injuries denying him the chance to face Devon Alexander (no less than three times) and Diego Chaves, his CV lacks a major name other than Porter.

A unification clash with Jessie Vargas was heavily discussed for later in the year. Back on May 26, Eddie Hearn told Sky Sports the deal was being finalised (h/t Isaac Robinson of SkySports.com).

Instead, a conversation with Hearn about the continued negotiations with Vargas led to an unexpected change of direction, as the promoter told George Gigney of Boxing News:

"

We were negotiating the Eubank [vs. Golovkin] fight for a long time, as you can imagine that was extremely difficult, we got close.

We set them [the Eubanks] a deadline and it wasn’t adhered to. They didn’t come back in time for the deadline. I phoned Kell later that night to talk about Vargas and I said 'do you want to fight Golovkin?'

He asked if I was serious and I told him I hadn’t spoken to them [Golovkin’s team] about it but I know they’d love it, it’s a huge fight and he just said 'yeah, I’ll fight Golovkin. 100 per cent.'

"

Eubank Jr.'s loss is Brook's gain.

The 30-year-old will be handsomely paid, and apart from the possibility of suffering a first career defeat in the paid ranks, there are few major drawbacks to taking the offer.

Brook still retains his IBF strap, meaning he can return back to welterweight if the Golovkin clash doesn't go his way.

Win, though, and he's suddenly hit boxing's jackpot. As a two-weight world champion who ended GGG's perfect run, he would have a legitimate claim to be the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet.

It could even be the type of win that tempts Floyd Mayweather Jr. out of retirement.

In the official press release from Matchroom Boxing, Brook said: "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."

Golovkin, meanwhile, will face criticism for picking a welterweight for his next opponent.

Bleacher Report's Kelsey McCarson presented a strong argument to suggest the fight will be nothing more than another mismatch, a "trash fight" that is unnecessary and unwanted.

However, unlike Alvarez's situation with Khan, Golovkin didn't have a whole lot of other options.

The one fight the sport needed the most was GGG against Canelo, yet that disappeared down the pan the moment the latter announced he was stepping back down to super welterweight.

Fellow world champions Danny Jacobs (WBA regular) and Billy Joe Saunders (WBO) had their chance, too. While they were unwilling to step up to the plate, Brook will take a swing in the hope of hitting a home run.

He could end up whiffing completely. At the very least, though, his bravery and self-belief means Britain gets a huge fight to look forward to in the second half of the year.

Whatever the outcome, the sight of Golovkin fighting in London will be a victory for British boxing.

Follow @RobLancs79