I nearly died . . . so Golovkin is nothing
BROOK UNFAZED BY KNOCKOUT KING
THE famous comparisons keep crowding in on Kell Brook, as will the world’s most fearsome boxer in London’s O2 Arena on Saturday night.
As Brook steels 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 to The Greatest, 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 in 1964.
Just as Golovkin is the scariest fighter of his time, so Liston was the monster of his age. Ali, then Cassius Clay, approached that challenge in a state of ranting hypertension 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. It makes me sharper, brighter, more focused. 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 workout in the Covent Garden Piazza and explained: ‘This is a special fight. 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 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 payper-view television, he limits any exposure to Golovkin. ‘I never like to get friendly with any opponent,’ says Brook. ‘It doesn’t work for me to be cosy with someone who I badly want to punch in the face.’
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 just want to shock the world.’
Brook makes another historic comparison, adding: ‘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.’
Brook’s decision to climb two divisions from welterweight, in his bid to upset middleweight king Golovkin, has raised eyebrows.
But he insists this opportunity has come at the perfect time, as he is growing naturally having turned 30 and has been struggling to drain down to welterweight, where he, too, is an undefeated world champion. ‘The diet was killing me,’ he says. ‘Now I enjoy eating proper meals. I’ve put on the pounds sensibly, as muscle.’
Surprisingly, Brook has weighed more than Golovkin at the pre-fight check visits to the scales. He says: ‘He is about to find out that I will be the monster.’
Brook would not be fighting at any weight had he died from the stabbing inflicted in curious circumstances while on holiday two years ago. Doctors credited his survival in part to his fighting spirit and he says: ‘If I can come through that I can deal with any opponent in the ring. Golovkin included.’
If he lives up to that promise, his most cherished comparison of all will be forthcoming — one from 65 years ago in London when Randolph Turpin pulled off British boxing’s biggest upset by defeating legendary middleweight champion, Sugar Ray Robinson.
That is one video Brook has watched, often. He says: ‘No one will ever forget what Turpin did. But when I beat Golovkin, this will be The One.’
lGOLOVKIN v Brook will be live on Sky Sports Box Office.