Gennady Golovkin has been looking for the biggest fights he can find in a division that has been void of such contests for quite some time. The Middleweight division has been hollowed out and left with only second rate foes, many of which he?s already demolished, and political red tape and network agendas have prevented Golovkin and Saul Alvarez to give fans what they really want to see.
Golovkin needed a challenge, a head turning attraction to increase his chances of making that fight a reality and like Bernard Hopkins and Marvin Hagler before him, the brighter lights come from south of the Middleweight division?way south.
Kell Brook has answered the call so many have hesitated to hear, and why not? Golovkin comes as a visiting attraction in his own backyard and a challenge that, should he overcome, could leave him practically unopposed as the best fighter in the world. The odds are against him, but can he do it?
Forget all the cockamamie build up to this fight and just take things at face value for a moment: Brook is a career Welterweight and Golovkin is a career Middleweight. While much has been made that Brook has weighed in heavier than Golovkin leading up to the fight, the bigger man is the same person it always has been from the start.
With that being said, a full frontal assault would be nothing less than suicidal for Brook, so movement, speed and a plan of attack that emphasizes awkwardness is the key here. Thankfully for Brook, Golovkin has never been a fighter that has been too hard to find, often standing in front of his foes trying to pressure them and restrict movement.
While Golovkin hasn?t been tested with this crop of a legitimately bad Middleweight division, his fights have always played out with constant pressure and forward movement. Golovkin has yet to deal with an opponent who could evade him or keep him at a distance for a sustained amount of time. Willie Monroe Jr. had some success using footwork and angles to avoid Golovkin, but did not have the firepower to keep him off of him.
It is that very same firepower, or lack thereof from Brook as a Middleweight, that could determine what happens in this fight. There will be a moment where Brook will have a period of sustained success early, perhaps having to force Golovkin to find a way to adjust to his slippery and strategically minded foe early. During that time Brook will land, perhaps more than once, and it is at that point where we see where the fight is going to go.
If Brook can get Golovkin?s respect and even frustrate him by keeping him off balance, clinching frequently and keeping him off of his rhythm, he might just pull it off. That would require Brook to fight a perfect, extremely disciplined fight for 12 rounds, and that?s just not going to happen.
What is more likely to happen is that Golovkin will get a chance to see what Brook is bringing to the ring with him and he?s going to walk right through his shots. Eventually, he?ll start figuring out his foe and bypass his ineffective offense by bullying him to the ropes and pounding him to the body to sap his legs.
Brook will have a chance to determine if the beating he?s receiving is worth the payday, and when he starts realizing more and more that he has a built in excuse for defeat, surrender may come in a knockout or just a lap to the finish line. When a fighter normally has a back door, they won?t hesitate to use it.
There won?t be any drama here outside of maybe a closely contested first third of the fight. Gennady Golovkin is simply just too much for Kell Brook to handle over the course of 12 rounds and will begin breaking him down from the midway point, maybe behind on cards by trying to figure out his foe. He?ll lower the boom after wearing Brook down and put him down in the tenth, securing his Middleweight title and keeping an eye on Alvarez for a future showdown.
