Doell Doles Out His Picks For Gennady “GGG” Golovkin & Kell Brook Next Fights!

By James “The Truth” Doell

Recently from the O2 Arena in London, England, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin 36-0, 33 KO’s, stretched his knockout streak to 23 in a row with a 5th round stoppage over Sheffield’s Kell Brook 36-1, 25 KO’s. Kell Brook is the IBF Welterweight champion of the world had moved up two weight classes to challenge Golovkin for his IBO, WBC, and IBF world middleweight titles. “GGG” hasn’t been able to get any of the other top names in the middleweight division to step in the ring with him, and Brook has failed to secure a fight with a credible opponent at welterweight since he won his title from Shawn Porter back in 2014, so the two agreed to put their undefeated records on the line in a super fight the boxing world never saw coming.

Most boxing experts and fans around the world didn’t give “The Special One” Kell Brook a chance in the fight. For the first few minutes of the fight, it looked as though they had been right. Brook boxed carefully, but was hurt by a body shot from Golovkin in the first round. Brook bounced back in the second round, connecting with punches that snapped the middleweight champion head back as the crowd went crazy. The third and fourth rounds were back and forth affairs, with Golovkin coming forward as he always does, but brook fighting surprisingly well; tagging Golovkin and even pushing him backwards at times. In the 5th round, “GGG” knocked Brook against the ropes; throwing hard flurries of punches as Brook tried to move away but still throwing back. The fight was surprisingly stopped as Brook’s trainer Dominic Ingle frantically waved a white towel to signal the referee to stop the fight. It was a shock to everyone, but it was later revealed that Brook had suffered a broken eye socket that required surgery.

The fight did well on HBO Championship boxing, drawing 843,00 live viewers and 593,00 fans watching the re broadcast later that night. It was undoubtedly the biggest fight of their career’s, but what’s next for these two world champions?

Kell Brook will be out of the ring for a while after suffering a broken eye socket against Golovkin. He still holds the IBF title at welterweight, so he could return the 147 lbs. where he would have to defend his belt against mandatory challenger Errol Spence, JR., 21-0, 18 KO’s, this is unlikely however; as Brook said he plans on making his return to the ring at super welterweight. This opens up a lot of potential match ups for “The Special One”. Canelo Alvarez is now campaigning at 154 lbs. after vacating his WBC middleweight title after he was ordered to face Golovkin. This would be a huge fight for both fighters, but would also be a huge risk for Brook going against another big puncher after suffering his first loss. Jermall Charlo, Jermell Charlo, Erislandy Lara and Jack Culcay also hold title belts in the super welterweight division.

A good comeback fight for Kell Brook would be against former champion Austin Trout 30-3, 17 KO’s, or former multi division champion Miguel Cotto 40-5,33 KO’s. Trout lost a unanimous decision to Jermall Charlo in his last fight and despite looking very game in that fight, seems to be on the downside of his career. It’s a winnable fight for Brook and would be another credible name on his resume – something he has been criticized for. Miguel Cotto lost a unanimous decision to Canelo Alvarez in November of 2015 and has been out of the ring since. There has been no lack of rumored opponents for Cotto in recent months, but nothing has come to fruition. Cotto is a future hall of famer and if Brook could pull it off; a win over Cotto would be huge, and could possibly set up a mega fight with Canelo Alvarez if he continues to campaign at 154 lbs.

Gennady “GGG” Golovkin is one of the most feared fighters in the sport today. He has stopped his last 23 opponents, but this has been a double edged sword for Golovkin as almost every other top name in the middleweight division has seemingly done everything in their power to avoid him. Golovkin has always maintained that his goal is to unify all of the belts in the middleweight division. In December of 2010, he knocked out Nilson Julio Tapia to capture the WBA world middleweight title and a year later he knocked out Lajuan Simon to win the vacant IBO world middleweight title. In October of 2014 “GGG” stopped Marco Antonio Rubio to take his interim WBC title, and was then ducked by Miguel Cotto who held the full title. Canelo Alvarez beat Cotto for the title, and he too refused to fight Golovkin before vacating the belt for “GGG” to become the full WBC champion. In what is regarded by most boxing fans as his toughest test to date, Golovkin battered and stopped hard hitting Canadian David Lemieux in a unification fight for the IBF world title.

There are two middleweight belts left for Gennady Golovkin to add to his collection. Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs 32-1, 29 KO’s, holds the WBA “Regular” middleweight belt, and Billy Joe Saunders 23-0, 12 KO’s, holds the WBO middleweight title. They have both been reluctant to fight Golovkin in the past, but maybe the vulnerability he showed against Brook changed their minds.

On Monday, September 12th, the WBA ordered Golovkin and Jacobs to fight each other within the next 120 days. They have 30 days from last Monday to finalize a deal or the fight will go to a purse bid. Jacobs also holds power in both hands, but his chin could make things interesting against Golovkin as he has been knocked out once before. Jacobs last fought last Friday; stopping Sergio Mora for the second time and called out “GGG” after the fight.

Earlier this year; WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders turned down the opportunity to unify his title against Golovkin. Golovkin was critical of him for turning down the fight, and after Golovkin vs brook; Saunders called out the Kazakh champion in a video he posted on social media. Saunders is set to defend his world title October 29th, on the under card of the rematch between Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko against an opponent that hasn’t yet been announced. Saunders stated he will be ready to fight Golovkin any time after that. This would be a smart fight for Golovkin; taking advantage of the exposure he gained across the pond against Kell Brook, and most likely collecting another title belt at 160 lbs.

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