IS Gennady Golovkin disgruntled? After Kell Brook, who did look in ripped condition all the way up at middleweight, hopped off the scales, Golovkin strode through the crowded stage scratching his stomach, his face unsmiling.
The Kazakh champion, who puts his WBC and IBF middleweight titles on the line against Brook, weighed in at 158.9lbs, fractionally lighter than Brook actually who scaled 159.4lbs. Both made the weight of course. The fight is on.
The two went head to head for the final time before they enter the ring on Saturday. Golovkinโs chin jutted out as he gazed down at Brook. “GGG” looked unamused but it was impossible to tell whether he had been angered or if making weight this time had bothered him. In fact he could just have been displeased with getting caught up in Londonโs traffic on his way to this weigh-in at the O2.
โAside from the traffic everything else is okay,โ Tom Loeffler, Golovkinโs promoter, told Boxing News afterwards. โGennadyโs done this so many times, in the amateurs, professionals, heโs always very relaxed. When youโre as prepared as he is, heโs always very confident and Abel [Sanchez, his trainer] always has a good gameplan so everyone is just looking forward to tomorrow night.โ
The WBA have not sanctioned this bout for their title, though Golovkin will retain it if heโs victorious. โOne way you can take it as a compliment to Gennady because theyโve sanctioned a number of other fighters moving up two divisions who actually were successful moving up, like Adrien Broner moved up, he beat [Paulie] Malignaggi, Roy Jones moved up, he beat [John] Ruiz,โ Tom said. โKell Brook is in my opinion better than a guy like Broner, no disrespect to Broner but Kell Brook is clearly a world class fighter. Heโs a world champion, undefeated, heโs never been knocked out before, heโs physically a big guy. He weighed in at all the weight checks weโve done so far heโs always been consistently heavier than Gennady. Even on the scales today he was heavier than Gennady. I donโt really see a big physical disadvantage. [Golovkin] is a proud WBA champion, even though we donโt agree with the decision we have to abide by the rules. The WBC, the IBF, the IBO and the British Boxing Board of Control had no issues with the fight and theyโre probably the most conservative organisation around.โ
He views this fight in London as the next step forward for Golovkinโs career. โItโs always been our plan to make him an international brand and to continue to grow his brand. Heโs fought in numerous places, heโs fought in Panama, heโs fought in Ukraine, heโs fought in Kazakhstan, heโs fought three times in Monaco, he started his career in Germany,โ Loeffler said. โEven though he had the unification fight against David Lemieux in Madison Square Garden, which he sold out, or the last fight at the Forum, which he sold out, this just has a completely different feel than any of his previous fights in terms of the fan reaction, in terms of the media reaction. It seems like this is the fight that everybodyโs talked about.
โEddie [Hearn] couldnโt get the big fight for Kell, we had a very difficult time getting a big name to actually get in the ring with Gennady and it really solved the problem for both fighters.
โHaving two undefeated champions fighting against each other, arguably the best in their respective divisions, thatโs what the fans react to.โ