It’s fair to say unbeaten middleweight king Gennady Golovkin received mixed reviews for his largely dominant 5th-round stoppage of a game Kell Brook. Some fans raved over GGG’s power, willingness to rumble and his usual ability at cutting off he ring. Others still say Triple-G got hit way too much, was poor defensively and could not knock his welterweight challenger clean out.
One man who has a vested interest went further in the criticism stakes, much further. Derrick James, trainer of the sensationally talented Errol Spence Junior, told RingTV.com how he feels Brook “exposed” Golovkin, and that his fighter would not only defeat, but KO both GGG and Brook if he got the opportunity to fight them.
“I had never seen Brook fight much before, really,” James told The Bible of Boxing. “I said he would be too fast. He exposed Triple-G, I believe. Errol would knock both of them out. He spars with heavyweights and cruiserweights every day and these guys don’t have a lot of great skills. Their reaction time is too slow. You can see what Brook is thinking. I have to talk to [Errol] about it and I believe he will beat Golovkin with skill, power and speed but it’s up to him to actually take the fight because he knows himself so I will let him make his own calls.”
Spence, who has made a habit of stopping good fighters who had never previously been stopped, is the number-one contender for the IBF welterweight title that Brook still holds. Can Brook get back down to 147? It seems doubtful and Brook has his eye on the 154-pounders. Spence, then, will likely fight for the soon to be vacated belt. After that, who knows – a move up to middleweight and a challenge of Golovkin?
How would the fans react, though, if GGG fought a second welterweight who was moving up in weight? James has kind of put his fighter on the spot. Will “The Truth” now look to back up his trainer’s big words?