Middleweight knockout sensation Gennady “GGG” Golovkin scored a fifth round technical knockout victory over “Special One” Kell Brook in an action-packed bout that was competitive for the first four rounds until GGG ended it in the next round when he connected on several powerful unanswered punches that led Brook’s corner to throw in the towel to prevent their boxer from taking any more punishment.
This fight took place at the sold-out O2 Arena in London, England with a crowd of 19,000, mostly pro-Brook fans. The bout was televised on HBO. Golovkin connected on 133 out of 301 shots for 44 per cent while Brook landed 85 out of 261 punches for 33 per cent.
The IBO, WBA, WBC, and IBF belt holder recorded his twenty-three consecutive knockout victory and improved his undefeated record to 36-0, 33 KOs. Golovkin increased his knockout win ratio to .917 per cent, the second highest for a world champion behind WBC heavyweight title holder Deontay Wilder. He has successfully defended his middleweight title for the seventeenth time, second to future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins who made twenty.
IBF welterweight champion who made three successful world title defenses, suffered his first professional loss as he dropped to 36-1, 25 KOs. This was Brook’s first middleweight bout after he had spent his entire career in the welterweight division.
This fight was much more difficult than expected for one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Brook fought extremely well for the first four rounds as he displayed a strong chin and very effective counter punching. Golovkin connected on a devastating right hook that badly staggered Brook in the middle of the opening round, but Brook rallied back later in the round to land several good combinations on Golovkin. Brook had his best round of the fight in the second when he outworked and out landed Golovkin and even momentarily staggered him with a perfectly landed right uppercut.
GGG; however, continued to aggressively pursue Brook in the third and fourth and connected on the majority of the power shots. At the end of the fourth, Brook’s right eye started to swell up badly and he began to bleed from his nose, which was a result of all the punishment he had received from Golovkin. Golovkin dominated the fifth round as he pinned Brook on the ropes and went on a brutal offensive onslaught while Brook did not return with any offensive shots or attempt to clinch Golovkin instead he tried to cover up. This caused Brook’s trainer Dominic Ingle to throw in the towel to stop the fight at 1 minute and 57 seconds left in the round.
Initially this appeared to be an extremely early stoppage by Brook’s corner because while Golovkin landed several big shots on Brook, many of them missed him and it did not appear that Brook was in any serious trouble or close to being knockdown. Brook was also very surprised by his corner’s actions. It was reported after the fight; however, that GGG broke Brook’s orbital bone in his right eye socket in the first round which played a significant factor in his corner stopping the fight when they did. Brook will be operated on today in Sheffield, England. In retrospect, it was a good stoppage by Brook’s corner.
Golovkin did not look his usual dominant unbeatable self in the first couple of rounds, especially since he was getting hit more often than he usually does. This so called off night for GGG, might have been more to do with the fact that he desperately tried to score a sensational knockout as opposed to being sick, which the American media reported and he denied, or that he is not as good as fight fans believe. Golovkin traded punches with Brook and tried to land one strong haymaker at a time as opposed to jabbing and counter punching, which he usually does, because this fighting style would increase his opportunity to knockout Brook, which happened in the fifth.
Brook should be given a great deal of credit for moving up two divisions and thirteen pounds to take on one of the most dangerous fighters in the sport, especially since no one else wanted to face him (Billy Joe Saunders, Daniel Jacobs, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Chris Eubank, Jr., etc.). He also displayed a strong chin and immense heart because despite the amount of punishment he received, he did not go down nor did he quit despite having problems seeing out of his right eye from the opening round. He will probably move up to the junior middleweight division, a weight class where he does not have to struggle to make weight as he did at welterweight and he still maintain his speed and power at 154-pounds.
GGG would like to box the only other belt holder in the middleweight division, WBO champion Saunders, although that fight might not happen. Golovkin’s camp reportedly offered him early this year, 3.2 million dollars (by far his highest purse of his career) and to have the fight in England, yet he turned it down. Saunders has not fought since he defeated Andy Lee in December of last year. He is rumored to fight the lineal middleweight champion Alvarez in December, as long as Alvarez defeats Liam Smith, whom he fights this Saturday. Golovkin could box the WBA regular middleweight title holder Jacobs in his next bout. Jacobs stated after his dominating win over Sergio Mora this weekend that he wanted to fight Golovkin next. Hopefully for boxing’s sake, either one of those matchups will happen for Golovkin or another top ten middleweight will step up and face him because his potential mega-fight against Alvarez will not happen until next autumn at the earliest, if at all.