KELL BROOK insists fear won’t hinder his performance against Gennady Golovkin on September 10 after he survived a horrific machete attack in 2014.
While celebrating his IBF welterweight title win over Shawn Porter in Tenerife, Brook was attacked by an assailant still at large, leaving him with a huge gash in his left thigh.
The wound required 60 staples and pins in the flesh, and doctors told him afterwards that had he not got to the hospital in time, he may have bled to death.
โWhy would I fear Golovkin when I have stared death in the face?โ he said. โThis is a sport. It canโt compare to something like that in which I almost ended up losing my life.โ
Brook will be jumping two weight divisions to taken on the unbeaten Kazakh for the WBC, WBA and IBF world middleweight titles at the O2 Arena in London.
Despite Brook being a hefty underdog, the bout has generated huge intrigue and sold out the venue in 11 minutes.
Brook has already proved his frame can carry the extra poundage when he out-weighed Golovkin at the 30-day check weigh-in, and insists that he will be at his best without a severe weight cut.
โItโs the biggest fight in world boxing. Itโs a fight that makes me so excited, Iโm the best welterweight on the planet and nobody wants to fight me, itโs the same with โGGGโ,” he said.
โHeโs the best middleweight in the world and they do not want to face him. I will bring speed but weโre also hitting the right numbers with power at the new weight. Iโm going to be so sharp, so alive on the night.โ
Though he has proved himself one of the top welterweights in the world, Brook and his team feel his struggle to make the weight has hampered his performances and, thus, the world has not yet seen him at his best.
He even went so far as to say middleweight is his natural division.
โNobodyโs ever got the best out of me, I want to test myself and I know that weโll see the best in me,” he continued.
“Iโm excited myself to see what I can do. I always seem to do enough, find a way to win, and itโll be the same. Thereโll be massive drama.
โPeople go on about weight, Mike Tyson wasnโt the biggest heavyweight and he was an animal. 160[lbs] is my natural weight, itโll be the best of me. Iโm training like a wild horse. I want to go down, like my hero Sugar Ray Robinson, in history.โ