The famous comparisons keep crowding in on Kell Brook, as will the world’s most fearsome boxer in London’s O2 Arena this Saturday night.
As Brook nerves himself to do battle with Gennady Golovkin, the Kazakh with the killer punch, he seeks reassurance in the most profound depths of ring history.
While this son of Sheffield would never presume to liken himself with The Greatest Of All Time, he does find similarity with the emotions which Muhammad Ali experienced on the eve of his first, astonishing world heavyweight title victory over Sonny Liston.
Just as Golovkin is the scariest prize-fighter of this moment of time, so Liston was the monster of his age.
Ali, then Cassius Clay, approached that challenge in a state of ranting hyper-tension and Brook says: ‘Liston terrified him and in a way that did him a favour. It put Ali on high alert and that brought out the best in him.
‘It’s the same for me now. It would be stupid for me to say there is no element of fear in facing Golovkin. There is a reason why no-one else wants to fight him. That reason is the power of his punching.
‘Of course I am on edge for this fight. But that helps me. I am at my best when my back is against the wall. It makes me sharper, brighter, more focussed. So much so that it makes me all the more confident that I can win.’
Brook emitted a primal scream at the end of this week’s public work-out in the Covent Garden Plaza, one which curdled the atmosphere among his hundreds of watching supporters.
He explained: ‘This is kill or be killed. This is a special fight. All the celebrities coming on the night. All the passion, all the excitement. There is something in the air. The fans feel it. I feel it. I just had to let it all out at that moment.’
Not that being put on parade for these publicity events is to his liking.
He says: ‘The closer it gets the more I would prefer to be in a darkened room. Preparing myself.’
While he cannot be entirely alone as they market the event for pay-per-view television, he limits to the minimum any exposure to Golovkin’s presence.
‘I never like to get friendly with any opponent,’ says Brook, for whom the stare-down at the weigh-in will be an unavoidable chore. ‘It doesn’t work for me to be cosy with someone I will have to punch in the face, who I badly want to punch in the face.
‘With Golovkin, I want to shut him out. Completely. I don’t need to be told that he’s a great boxer. I know that. I just want to focus on how I can beat him.’
Golovkin has knocked out 32 of his 35 victims in an undefeated career, the last 22 in succession, and Brook adds: ‘I don’t watch videos of his fights. I don’t want to get sucked into all the hype which surrounds him. I just want to shock the world.’
Another historic comparison is forthcoming: ‘I believe I can do what Sugar Ray Leonard achieved when he went up in weight and beat Marvin Hagler, who everyone at the time thought was invincible.’
