What’s the biggest difference form fighting at 154 and 160? It seems only a small difference, but what are the changes/adjustments you have to make during training camp?
“No matter what weight a fighter is competing at, it takes hard work and dedication.
“For the last six years, my body has felt best and I have been strongest as a junior middleweight. I still feel that way today.
Middleweight sensation Gennady Golovkin continued his reign of dominance when he stopped a brave but overmatched Kell Brook in the 5th round this past weekend. With the victory Golovkin now has 17 successful title defense, and is riding an impressive streak of 23 consecutive victories coming by way of knockout. During this mighty run Golovkin has hardly lost any rounds along the way. He has been extremely dominant while consistently displaying an extremely crowd pleasing and fan friendly fighting style.
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.
With former super-middleweight king Carl Froch now happily retired and, having just had a nose job done, in no mood to return to the rigors of the ring, a fight between Froch and Gennady Golovkin is confined to the Dream Fight stakes. But what a great fight it may well have been; almost definitely would have been. Had GGG stepped up (in weight, not in class of opposition) to fight “The Cobra” a couple of years or so ago (a fight that was seriously looked into), and had he fought the way he did against Kell Brook on Saturday night, we would almost certainly have witnessed a brutal war.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman spoke with Sky Sports recently and he stated how WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia will defend his title in a rematch with Amir Khan next year. Sulaiman said that as Khan is currently injured (his hand, which underwent an operation recently) Garcia will make a voluntary defence this October before defending against Khan, the WBC no-1 contender, after that.
“Unfortunately, Amir Khan has an injury in his hand that required surgery so he’ll be out for the rest of the year,” Sulaiman said.
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.
There was a press conference in London today, to promote the return fight between Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko, now back on (we hope) for October 29 in Manchester. But only one half of the match-up turned up, as Fury had “car trouble” and was a no-show. Fury is said to have broken down on the motorway, his phone battery dead. Co-promoter Mick Hennessey explained how the unfortunate circumstances were simply beyond the heavyweight champion’s control.
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me, is a saying that British boxing fans should consider following Kell Brook’s fifth round TKO defeat to Gennady GGG Golovkin. The all too predictable outcome at the O2 arena in London on Saturday night comes just a few months after Brook’s fellow countryman Amir Khan met a similar fate at the hands of Mexican, Saul Alvarez. Fans must be scratching their heads and wondering how they fell for the same old ruse again? Brook and Khan both moved up two weight classes from welterweight to challenge for the middleweight crown and both got flattened by a proverbial steamroller. Brook boxed well for the few rounds that the contest lasted and showed a ‘champion’s heart’. But when we’ve exhausted all the usual platitudes and finished lauding Kell’s ‘unquestionable courage’, boxing fans need to ask why these mismatches continue to be made? Money, name recognition, a lack of willing challengers, a built in excuse for defeat, are all the usual suspects. A big payday for the fighters, promoters and media, but sadly an all too predictable show for the fans.
With September being National Hispanic Heritage Month, former two-division world champion Canelo Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) will take back Mexican Independence Day weekend for Latino fight fans in his upcoming battle against WBO Junior Middleweight World Champion Liam “Beefy” Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs). Reclaiming the distinctive weekend is a greater symbol of the arrival of Canelo Alvarez to the very top of the sport, as the last Mexican fighter who owned the action-packed weekend was Golden Boy Promotions’ Chairman and CEO Oscar De La Hoya.
Tyson Fury’s Heavyweight World Title rematch with the legendary Wladimir Klitschko will be made available via BoxNation Box Office to Sky customers for the first time. The groundbreaking development will see this year’s biggest fight, taking place on Saturday October 29th in Manchester, being accessible to Sky’s 12 million customers who will be able to order the BoxNation event via their remote control for a one-off pay-per-view fee.