Beefed-up Kell Brook ready to take shot at history against KO king Gennady Golovkin
Britain's Kell Brook is revelling in his fuller physique as he prepares for Saturday’s showdown with formidable middleweight king Gennady Golovkin, according to his trainer.
IBF welterweight champion Brook has stepped up two weight divisions, from 10st 7lbs to 11 stone 6lbs, for the much-anticipated clash with Kazakh Golovkin at the O2 in London.
But far from struggling to bulk up, trainer Dominic Ingle insists the Sheffield 30-year-old, who is unbeaten in his 36 professional bouts, has had to shed mass to make the weight.
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“This fight couldn’t have come at a better time for Kell. He’s been looking to move up weights for a long time but we pursued the route of the welterweight title. We had to achieve that first,” he said.
“We’ve had him on special diets to take muscle off. This is not a big guy fighting a small guy. That advantage is gone. You can’t take chances with a guy like Golovkin because one mistake and the game’s over.”
Golovkin has 32 KOs from his 35 contests and is rated among the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Not since 1966 has a welterweight champion won a middleweight world title, yet Brook is unfazed.
“I’m going to follow the greats and make history,” Brook said. “The likes of Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Floyd Mayweather have all moved through the weights to prove they are greats at all weights.”