Brook vs. Golovkin: A Detailed Fight Review
Posted: 14 Sep 2016, 18:40
I’ve just re-watched the Golovkin-Brook bout and decided to make some notes about my interpretation of the way things played out.
Warning: This is a lengthy read!
Round One:
For the first 80 seconds of the GGG-Brook fight, the Kazakh fighter punished the Brit, who was was rocked severely, to the point that he desperately had to cling on for dear life.
Golovkin then clearly appeared to intentionally take his foot off the gas, which encouraged Brook to return fire. In my mind, there is no evidence to suggest that GGG needed to take a breather. He simply took a step back, regrouped and stalked his prey.
Golovkin may have taken a few of Brook’s punches, the crowd and the commentators may have become excited, but GGG seemed to be extremely comfortable about the way things were playing out.
To be perfectly honest, the two official judges that awarded the first round to Brook were an absolute disgrace, because they should not have allowed themselves to be unduly influenced by the crowd noise.
Round Two:
During the first minute of the round, Golovkin was stalking Brook again, firing his piston like jab. He remained within fighting range, forcing the Brit to compete at an uncomfortably fast pace in order to stave off the Kazakh’s attacks.
Brook’s nose had already started to bleed at this point, which would have surely hindered his breathing and consequently reduced his stamina levels.
Kell remained busy throughout much this round, remaining on the back-foot whilst throwing token gesture feather-fisted range-finder jabs. Meanwhile, Golovkin patiently stalked his prey, mainly throwing jabs, followed up with a few unorthodox right hands.
Towards the final fifty seconds of the round, Brook landed an excellent left uppercut that appeared to rock back Golovkin’s head, compelling the pro-Brit crowd to emit a thunderous roar, which encouraged the Special One to unload with a few “seemingly” heavy-handed combos.
At this point in time, Golovkin must have realised that he’d lost the round, so using his experience, he made no effort whatsoever to chase a lost cause, choosing instead to allow Brook to bask in his brief moment in of glory, whilst patiently waiting to hear the ringing of the end-of-round bell.
Round Three:
Golovkin seemed determined to regain the winning momentum of the fight… and after only 18 seconds into the round, he connected with a glancing left hook that appeared to deck Brook, which (in my mind) was wrongly deemed a slip by the ref.
For the next twenty seconds or so, there was a real sense of urgency for Kell to get on his bike and keep well away from Golovkin’s advancing charges, suggesting that he was trying to regain his senses.
About a minute into the round, after being on the receiving end of several heavy-handed Golovkin left hooks to the body and the head, Brook appeared to be in some distress and regularly touched his own right cheek, whilst swelling around the eye socket started to appear.
The writing was already on the wall at this point, because the Brit seemed to lose his ambition, by adopting a defensive negative mind-set. However, whilst the tide seemed to be turning GGG’s way, Brook somehow managed to throw a barrage of punches entering the final minute of the round, which forced Golovkin to cover up.
Sadly, it was a case of too little, too late, because the Kazakh fighter had already won the round, regardless the excitement of the patriotic pro-Brook crowd. Unfortunately though, this might have been Brook’s last hurrah, because GGG returned fire, inflicting a troubling amount of punishment in the dying seconds.
Round Four:
Entering the fourth round, Brook’s right eye appeared to be closing, but despite the injury, he stood his ground exchanging punches with Golovkin for the first minute or so.
Nothing eventful occurred during the following two minutes of the round, but it did appear that Golovkin had regained the winning momentum, out-working the Brit, whilst Brook occasionally started clinching.
Round Five:
Excluding the first 80 seconds of the fight, Golovkin appeared to have been going through the motions, despite being deprived of what superficially appeared to be a legitimate knockdown during the early stages of the third round. He seemed to have coasted for much of this contest.
In between the rounds, Dominic Ingle made no mention of Brook’s eye injury and he tried his best to fire-up his exhausted charge.
Meanwhile, GGG appeared to enter this round with renewed vigour, seemingly-determined to close the show. When the ref forced Kell to stop clinching, Golovkin unloaded a barrage of punches on his exhausted victim.
Kell tried his best to cover up and only managed to connect with a few jabs and a right cross in the first 30 seconds of the round, which was clearly insufficient to stave off Golovkin’s endless barrage of hooks to the head and the body.
Forty seconds into the round, in a desperate final act of bravado, Brook raised both arms in a manner to suggest that he wasn’t affected by GGG’s shots, but this did not deter the Kazakh, who then quickly resumed his attack.
Brook tried to land a couple of range finder jabs that had a sole purpose to position his own body to clinch Golovkin, but with just over a minute remaining, Dominic Ingle tried to gain the attention of the referee to call a halt to the fight… and with 66 seconds remaining of the round, GGG had successfully completed the seventeenth defence of his middleweight title, scoring a dominant fifth round TKO.
My scorecards at the time of the stoppage read 39-37 to Golovkin.
Warning: This is a lengthy read!
Round One:
For the first 80 seconds of the GGG-Brook fight, the Kazakh fighter punished the Brit, who was was rocked severely, to the point that he desperately had to cling on for dear life.
Golovkin then clearly appeared to intentionally take his foot off the gas, which encouraged Brook to return fire. In my mind, there is no evidence to suggest that GGG needed to take a breather. He simply took a step back, regrouped and stalked his prey.
Golovkin may have taken a few of Brook’s punches, the crowd and the commentators may have become excited, but GGG seemed to be extremely comfortable about the way things were playing out.
To be perfectly honest, the two official judges that awarded the first round to Brook were an absolute disgrace, because they should not have allowed themselves to be unduly influenced by the crowd noise.
Round Two:
During the first minute of the round, Golovkin was stalking Brook again, firing his piston like jab. He remained within fighting range, forcing the Brit to compete at an uncomfortably fast pace in order to stave off the Kazakh’s attacks.
Brook’s nose had already started to bleed at this point, which would have surely hindered his breathing and consequently reduced his stamina levels.
Kell remained busy throughout much this round, remaining on the back-foot whilst throwing token gesture feather-fisted range-finder jabs. Meanwhile, Golovkin patiently stalked his prey, mainly throwing jabs, followed up with a few unorthodox right hands.
Towards the final fifty seconds of the round, Brook landed an excellent left uppercut that appeared to rock back Golovkin’s head, compelling the pro-Brit crowd to emit a thunderous roar, which encouraged the Special One to unload with a few “seemingly” heavy-handed combos.
At this point in time, Golovkin must have realised that he’d lost the round, so using his experience, he made no effort whatsoever to chase a lost cause, choosing instead to allow Brook to bask in his brief moment in of glory, whilst patiently waiting to hear the ringing of the end-of-round bell.
Round Three:
Golovkin seemed determined to regain the winning momentum of the fight… and after only 18 seconds into the round, he connected with a glancing left hook that appeared to deck Brook, which (in my mind) was wrongly deemed a slip by the ref.
For the next twenty seconds or so, there was a real sense of urgency for Kell to get on his bike and keep well away from Golovkin’s advancing charges, suggesting that he was trying to regain his senses.
About a minute into the round, after being on the receiving end of several heavy-handed Golovkin left hooks to the body and the head, Brook appeared to be in some distress and regularly touched his own right cheek, whilst swelling around the eye socket started to appear.
The writing was already on the wall at this point, because the Brit seemed to lose his ambition, by adopting a defensive negative mind-set. However, whilst the tide seemed to be turning GGG’s way, Brook somehow managed to throw a barrage of punches entering the final minute of the round, which forced Golovkin to cover up.
Sadly, it was a case of too little, too late, because the Kazakh fighter had already won the round, regardless the excitement of the patriotic pro-Brook crowd. Unfortunately though, this might have been Brook’s last hurrah, because GGG returned fire, inflicting a troubling amount of punishment in the dying seconds.
Round Four:
Entering the fourth round, Brook’s right eye appeared to be closing, but despite the injury, he stood his ground exchanging punches with Golovkin for the first minute or so.
Nothing eventful occurred during the following two minutes of the round, but it did appear that Golovkin had regained the winning momentum, out-working the Brit, whilst Brook occasionally started clinching.
Round Five:
Excluding the first 80 seconds of the fight, Golovkin appeared to have been going through the motions, despite being deprived of what superficially appeared to be a legitimate knockdown during the early stages of the third round. He seemed to have coasted for much of this contest.
In between the rounds, Dominic Ingle made no mention of Brook’s eye injury and he tried his best to fire-up his exhausted charge.
Meanwhile, GGG appeared to enter this round with renewed vigour, seemingly-determined to close the show. When the ref forced Kell to stop clinching, Golovkin unloaded a barrage of punches on his exhausted victim.
Kell tried his best to cover up and only managed to connect with a few jabs and a right cross in the first 30 seconds of the round, which was clearly insufficient to stave off Golovkin’s endless barrage of hooks to the head and the body.
Forty seconds into the round, in a desperate final act of bravado, Brook raised both arms in a manner to suggest that he wasn’t affected by GGG’s shots, but this did not deter the Kazakh, who then quickly resumed his attack.
Brook tried to land a couple of range finder jabs that had a sole purpose to position his own body to clinch Golovkin, but with just over a minute remaining, Dominic Ingle tried to gain the attention of the referee to call a halt to the fight… and with 66 seconds remaining of the round, GGG had successfully completed the seventeenth defence of his middleweight title, scoring a dominant fifth round TKO.
My scorecards at the time of the stoppage read 39-37 to Golovkin.
