Does Gennady Golovkin Have Anything to Gain in Fight vs. Kell Brook?

All things considered, it's pretty good to be Gennady Golovkin.

The multi-belted middleweight monster has won all 35 of his professional fights, has defended his International Boxing Organization title 13 times and hasn't allowed an opponent to hear a scheduled final bell since the lame duck days of the second Bush Administration.

So, heading into Saturday's showdown with ambitious welterweight ladder-climber Kell Brook at the O2 Arena in London, there are plenty of reasons to feel good about his chances.

And not surprisingly, the folks who set the betting lines agree.

Odds Shark lists the 160-pound king as a significant favorite, requiring a $600 wager on him to recoup a mere $100 profit while a $100 outlay on the incumbent 147-pounder would bring back $400 in the event of an upset.

Clearly, his acclaim is widespread and significant.

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But it's precisely that reality which makes this weekend so dicey.

Because even if all goes according to plan, there's precious little of substance that'll change.

Should the 34-year-old Kazakh dispatch his 30-year-old foe with the same speedy abandon as his previous 13 challengers—a per-fight average of 5.23 rounds, that is—the Sunday morning post-mortems will be as much about Brook's lack of middleweight validity as Golovkin's spectacular prowess.

A good big man almost always beats a good little man, they'll say, while reminding that another recent middleweight claimant—Canelo Alvarez—got nearly no credit for his sixth-round crumbling of another enterprising welter, Amir Khan, when they met just four months ago.

In fact, because Khan had been ahead on one scorecard and competitive on two others at the time of his demise, the response to the Mexican's eventual victory was almost universally muted outside of an immediate candidacy for 2016 top knockout.

But while Khan arrived to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with pound-for-pound street cred to spare—thanks to an Olympic silver medal and a two-belt pro run at 140—it's hardly hyperbolic to contend that Brook is as legitimate a threat as Golovkin could have chosen south of the 175-pound class.

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The 12-year pro has remained unbeaten in one more for-pay appearance than Triple-G, has stopped seven of his last eight opponents in eight rounds or fewer and has ditched three consecutive welterweight title challengers at a Golovkin-like clip of four rounds per fight.

Khan was a terrific athlete, but had been knocked loopy by foes at 135 and 140 pounds.

Brook, just five spots behind Golovkin on Boxrec.com's latest P4P list, has no such competitive baggage.

What's more, he'll come to ring center nearly nose to nose with the perceived bigger man, standing just 1.5 inches shorter (5'9" to 5'10.5") and possessing a knuckle-to-knuckle wingspan (69 inches) that's only a shade shorter than the champion's 70-inch reach.

Brook has actually made 13 of his 36 pro outings beyond the 147-pound limit—topping out at 155 for a three-round TKO of Darren Gethin in 2008—and when it came time for a mandated World Boxing Council weigh-in seven days ahead of Saturday's fight, Brook tipped in at 167.8 pounds, nearly five heavier than Golovkin's 162.9.

Needless to say, it's not your garden variety middleweight/welterweight rendezvous, a fact recognized by Golovkin's own trainer, the never-shy-with-an-opinion Abel Sanchez.

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"Brook is the best welter in the world, (he's) having the same issues we are securing a major fight (and is an) undefeated champion with KO power," Sanchez told Bleacher Report.

"Everybody is dangerous on any night."

So dangerous that it's difficult to envision a scenario where Golovkin actually emerges better for wear.

An early stoppage would elicit the aforementioned shots at Brook's fast-track qualification for a middleweight title try, while anything resembling a pitched battle seems destined to generate a revisionist barrage at Golovkin's overall quality of opposition—which high-profile doubters like Teddy Atlas suggest has long been suspect.

Meanwhile, if the unfathomable happens and the Englishman wins outright, the "big drama show" phenomenon will be relegated to clearance-rack status faster than you can say Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

And that's a hurt even a $5 million purse won't heal.