Moving up two weight classes to fight one of the biggest punchers in boxing, Kell Brook was always up against it when he decided to take on Gennady Golovkin in 2016.
Brook was viewed by many as the best welterweight in the world at the time, however even most fighters in Golovkin’s home division of middleweight wanted nothing to with the devastating Kazakh.
And though ‘The Special One’ landed his fair share of shots on Golovkin and showed tremendous spirit, trainer Dominic Ingle ultimately pulled his man out in round five after he sustained a fractured eye socket.
Many pundits believe Brook, who would go onto fight the likes of Errol Spence Jr, Terence Crawford and Amir Khan, was never same after the four-and-a-half rounds he shared with ‘GGG’ at the 02 Arena.
Speaking on Up Front with Simon Jordan, the Sheffield favourite admitted that there was some truth to that narrative, saying he was “damaged” and “changed” by the Golovkin fight.
“It damaged me and it did actually change me. When he broke my eye, it made me start to think that boxing’s just a sport.
“I could have lost my eye, one more big shot and I could have been blind. That hit home big time, and came through me in the next fight against Errol Spence.”
Brook went on to admit that, despite his fearless persona on the night, Golovkin’s reputation and knockout streak at the time did play on his mind before stepping into the ring.
“I remember being in the hotel room and thinking, ‘I’m fighting Golovkin now’ and I started to doubt myself.”
“On the night of the fight I was talking to my nutritionist, I asked him, ‘I can win this fight, can’t I?’
“Straight away that’s negative, that’s me doubting myself.”
“The weeks coming up, all I’ve seen is Golovkin knocking everyone out, middleweights! And it dawns on me that I’m fighting him in a few hours.”
Now 37, there is talk of Brook coming out of retirement to make another foray up to 160lbs, this time to take on fellow Brit Chris Eubank Jr.
It has to be said, the idea has not been particularly well received by large portions of the boxing public, who are concerned about Brook’s age and inactivity as well as the size difference between the two men.
