Gennady Golovkin vs. Kell Brook: Biggest Storylines Surrounding Title Fight
Gennady Golovkin defends his WBC and IBF Middleweight Championships against current IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London. The WBA, which recognizes nearly as many world champs as there are states in the union, declined to sanction the bout for its belt.
The fight announcement came out of the blue over the summer, with both men seemingly on track to make title defenses against quality fighters who were in their own weight class.
Golovkin was expected to defend against British middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr., but the fight fell apart at the last minute. Brook immediately stepped up to the plate and accepted the exact same terms that were rejected by his compatriot to make the fight.
Many have been critical of the matchup, but Brook has always been on the larger side of the welterweight division and has fought several times at junior middleweight and once early in his career at 155 pounds. Maybe we're being optimistic, but this fight could prove more interesting than you'd think at first glance.
With that, let's check out the biggest storylines surrounding Golovkin vs. Brook!
What Does GGG Gain?
1 of 5
Golovkin remains in a difficult spot.
He's the best middleweight fighter in the world, and no one doubts that beyond a few fan boys and professional contrarians. He deserves that reputation when he holds three-fourths of the gold in the division and literally runs the self-proclaimed "new face of boxing" (Canelo Alvarez) out of town with his tail between his legs.
GGG simply can't force people to fight him.
Canelo, Billy Joe Saunders and Eubank all had shots at this fight, and all of them, for various reasons, decided the best move for their careers was to talk tough and then walk far away.
Brook isn't the opponent anyone wanted, but he's the guy who had the stones to take the deal.
And there are obvious gains here for Golovkin.
The Brit is still the biggest name and perhaps most attractive opponent of his career. Like the Kazakh, Brook (36-0) is undefeated and has had some difficulty landing lucrative and significant fights. You can blame that on too many businessmen and not enough fighters in the game today.
Also, the chance for Golovkin to expand his presence, which already includes sellouts in both New York City and Los Angeles, to the world's No. 1 international destination for boxing is an absolute no-brainer.
It's clear that was the goal for this fight, and Brook both fit the bill and had the guts to take the assignment.
Will Size Matter?
2 of 5
Brook is taking a massive risk in this fight.
Yes, he's a big welterweight.
Yes, he's fought as high as 155 pounds in his career, though that came against an opponent whose name doesn't even belong in this conversation.
He even weighed significantly more than GGG at the mandated 30-day weight check.
The Brit clocked in at 176 pounds on August 16, while the Kazakh champion was within five pounds of the divisional limit at 165 pounds. Brook was again heavier at the seven-day check, outweighing GGG 167.8 to 162.9 pounds.
Brook has an impressive physique, and it seems likely that regardless of the outcome of this fight, his days campaigning at 147 pounds are sitting in the rearview mirror. But, as we've learned in boxing, having muscles upon muscles doesn't always equate to increased power or ability to handle a punch.
So, yes, Brook looks good and might eventually become more comfortable fighting at 160 pounds, but this is a tall task to ask of any fighter.
It's like taking your first swim in the Olympic pool. Chances are it won't end well.
GGG has been fighting at middleweight for his entire career. He's like a machine; he knows his body and how it reacts to the weight. That will matter on fight night.
How Long Does It Last?
3 of 5
That seems to be the fundamental question here.
You're not going to find a whole bunch of people outside the Brook camp who are giving him much of a chance of hearing the final bell, much less walking out of the O2 Arena with a suitcase full of middleweight gold.
Golovkin is a wrecking ball.
He's knocked out his last 22 opponents and hasn't gone the distance since some guy named Amar Amari lasted eight rounds with him in June 2008. It's probably the most impressive run in recent boxing history, and it's historic.
GGG's 91 percent KO ratio is the highest in the history of middleweight championship boxing.
Critics will tell you to take a record like that with a grain of salt. There aren't enough high-quality names to make a fair assessment, they'll tell you.
But that list includes plenty of current/former world champions and top-10 contenders. You can only beat up the guy in front of you, and GGG has done that every single time for the past eight years. He has the type of power you can only appreciate once it lands up on your chin.
Since none of you is likely to sign up for that assignment (why the heck would you?), you'll have to settle for the record.
How long will the bout last?
We don't know, but chances are high it won't go 12 rounds.
The hope is that Brook doesn't prove too brave for his own good and take unnecessary punishment if things get out of hand.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Does Brook Have Any Shot of an Upset?
4 of 5
It's difficult to see how Brook can pull this one off.
Conventional wisdom in boxing says when a good bigger fighter fights a good smaller fighter, it's almost always the bigger fighter who comes out on top. And there's just no real reason to doubt that conventional wisdom in this case.
Here's what we know.
Brook is a brave dude.
He put the entire middleweight division and all the fighters who have avoided GGG like he has the plague to shame. This is his dare-to-be-great moment, and if he finds a way to somehow pull it off, it would rank among the biggest upsets in the modern history of the sport.
That's how big a deal this could be for him.
It's a massive risk that comes with massive rewards. The consequences to his career, should he not get hurt, are likely to be minimal. People will give him credit for guts, and for that alone, his stock is guaranteed to rise.
It would seem that his only real shot would be to use his speed to remain an elusive target and stay out of the range of Golovkin's firepower. The Kazakh can knock him out with one punch, or he can impose his will with an accumulation of thudding shots that don't necessarily leave an immediate mark but accumulate in a hurry.
If Brook is fast enough, boxes smart and has the chin to survive the worst of GGG's shots—two huge ifs and a big caveat—then maybe, just maybe, he can make the fight interesting. But winning remains the longest of the long shots.
Where Does GGG Go Next?
5 of 5
It would be nice to say that the logjam at 160 pounds will quickly lift and the best fighters in the world will clamor for bouts against the best fighters in the world.
It would also be nice if (spoiler alert) Santa was real and would bring you those new sneakers and video game systems at Christmas time without the cash coming out of your pocket. We can hope, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen.
Unfortunately, there's little reason to be optimistic.
Golovkin is expected to win, and that's exactly what should happen. Anything else would be a shocker.
After the fight, we'll hear the predictable talking points about his goal of collecting all the belts in the middleweight division. Saunders holds the lone belt outside of his orbit, and Frank Warren will announce his charge's next foe on Monday, per Keith Idec of BoxingScene.com.
Saunders has shown no proclivity to challenge himself in any way, shape or form since winning the WBO Middleweight Championship from Andy Lee late last year, so don't get your hopes up for much. It'll likely be something disappointing, given the opportunities he's passed up.
Canelo challenges Smith the week following GGG vs. Brook, and if you haven't seen the train leaving the station on the possibility of Oscar De La Hoya's cinnamon-haired protege facing Golovkin in the near future, then you're not paying attention.
Yahoo's Kevin Iole penned a piece last week accusing De La Hoya of lying to the fans about his intentions regarding the matchup and accusing him of a bait-and-switch while diminishing Canelo's standing in the sport.
It's hard to argue those points.
Canelo isn't doing himself any favors to those who hope the firestorm of criticism will die down.
Per FightHub TV (h/t Andreas Hale of Yahoo Sports), he challenged UFC star Conor McGregor to a boxing match after the Irish pot stirrer criticized him. Canelo also said he'd love to fight Manny Pacquiao, per Phil D. Jay of World Boxing News.
Regardless of the result Saturday night, the carousel is going to continue, and that's bad for the sport and bad for the fans...in case anyone still cares about those things.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
