View source for Gennady Golovkin vs. Kell Brook

{{short description|Boxing competition}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox Boxingmatch
|fight date = 10 September 2016
|Fight Name = Gennady Golovkin vs. Kell Brook
|image = [[File:GolovkinBrook.jpg|230px]]
|location = [[The O2 Arena]], [[Greenwich]], [[London]], UK
|Referee =
|fighter1 = [[Gennady Golovkin]]
|nickname1 = GGG
|record1 = 35–0 (32 KO)
|hometown1 = [[Karagandy]], [[Kazakhstan]]
|height1 = 5 ft 10+1/2 in
|weight1 = 158.9 lbs
|style1 = [[Orthodox stance|Orthodox]]
|recognition1 = [[List of WBA world champions#Middleweight|WBA (Super)]], [[List of WBC world champions#Middleweight|WBC]], [[List of IBF world champions#Middleweight|IBF]], and [[List of IBO world champions#Middleweight|IBO]] middleweight champion<br />[[The Ring (magazine)|''The Ring'']] No. 3 ranked [[Pound for pound|pound-for-pound]] fighter
|fighter2 = [[Kell Brook]]
|nickname2 = Special K
|record2 = 36–0 (25 KO)
|hometown2 = [[Sheffield]], [[South Yorkshire]], [[England]]
|height2 = 5 ft 9 in
|weight2 = 159.4 lbs
|style2 = Orthodox
|recognition2 = [[List of IBF world champions#Welterweight|IBF]] welterweight champion
|titles = [[World Boxing Council|WBC]], [[International Boxing Federation|IBF]], and [[International Boxing Organization|IBO]] middleweight titles
|result = '''Golovkin''' wins via 5th round '''TKO'''
}}
'''[[Gennady Golovkin]] vs. [[Kell Brook]]''', was a [[professional boxing]] match for the unified [[World Boxing Council|WBC]], [[International Boxing Federation|IBF]], and [[International Boxing Organization|IBO]] [[Light heavyweight|middleweight]] titles. The bout was held on 10 September 2016, at the [[The O2 Arena|O2 Arena]] in [[London|London, England]]. The event was televised live on [[Sky Box Office|Sky Sports Box Office]] in the UK and [[HBO]] in the United States. Golovkin won the fight in round 5, after Brook's corner threw in the towel.
== Background ==
On 8 July 2016, it was announced that [[Gennady Golovkin]] would fight [[Kell Brook]] on 10 September 2016 at the [[The O2 Arena|O2 Arena]] in London, England. Brook was scheduled to fight in a unification bout against then-WBO champion [[Jessie Vargas]], whereas there was negotiations for Golovkin to fight [[Chris Eubank Jr.]]; however, negotiations fell through and promoter [[Eddie Hearn]] offered the Golovkin fight to Brook, who agreed to move up two weight divisions to challenge Golovkin. This was Golovkin's 17th world title defence. The fight aired in the United States on [[HBO]] and on [[Sky Box Office]] [[pay-per-view]] in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.espn.co.uk/boxing/story/_/id/16893648/gennady-golovkin-defend-belts-kell-brook-sept-10|title=GGG to defend belts against Brook on Sept. 10|access-date=11 July 2016}}</ref>
On 5 September, the WBA withdrew its sanction for the fight. Although they granted Golovkin a special permit to take the fight, they stated that their title would not be at stake. The reason for the withdrawal was because Brook had never competed in the middleweight division. WBA president Gilberto Mendoza Jr. said, "What I most regret is that there are no boxers at 160 pounds who will fight against 'Triple G,' and Brook has to move up two divisions to fight against him." The Golovkin camp were said to be disappointed with the decision with promoter Tom Loeffler saying, "somehow the WBA thought it was too dangerous for a welterweight to move up to middleweight to fight the biggest puncher in boxing. I guess that is a compliment to GGG as they sanctioned [Adrien] [[Adrien Broner|Broner]] moving up two divisions [from lightweight to welterweight] to fight [[Paulie Malignaggi|Paulie]] [Malignaggi in 2013] and [[Roy Jones Jr.|Roy Jones]] moving up two divisions [from light heavyweight to heavyweight] to fight [[John Ruiz]] [in 2003] for WBA titles, and Kell Brook is undefeated and considered a top pound-for-pound boxer."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.espn.co.uk/boxing/story/_/id/17461260/gennady-golovkin-wba-middleweight-title-not-stake-fight-kell-brook|title=Golovkin's WBA title not on line in Brook fight|work=ESPN.com|access-date=2017-09-14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.boxingscene.com/wba-declines-sanction-golovkin-brook-middleweight-bout--108333|title=WBA Declines To Sanction Golovkin-Brook Middleweight Bout - Boxing News|website=www.boxingscene.com|language=en-us|access-date=2017-09-14}}</ref>
== Fight details ==
Golovkin came out aggressively, going as far as to buckle Brook's legs in the first round. He was met with stiff resistance as Brook began to fire back, connecting multiple clean combinations on Golovkin, none of which were able to faze him. In the second round Brook had his greatest success of the fight, but in the process had his right eye socket broken. Over the next three rounds, Golovkin began to break him down. Brook showed courage, determination and a great chin as he absorbed the bulk of a Golovkin onslaught. Despite this, Brook's trainer Dominic Ingle threw in the towel to protect his fighter's damaged right eye, ending the fight in the fifth round with both boxers still standing.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/10/kell-brook-title-bid-ended-gennady-golovkin|title=Kell Brook’s brave title bid ended by fearsome champion Gennady Golovkin|date=10 September 2016|work=Guardian|access-date=13 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.skysports.com/golovkin-vs-brook/news/34037/10573845/1|title=Golovkin vs Brook: Kell Brook stopped by Gennady Golovkin after five rounds|last=|first=|date=September 11, 2016|website=Sky Sports|publisher=|access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref>
=== CompuBox stats ===
{| class="wikitable"
!Total
!Golovkin
!Brook
|-
|Thrown
|301
|261
|-
|Landed
|133
|85
|-
|Con. %
|44.2%
|32.6%
|}
== Aftermath ==
Speaking after the fight, Golovkin said, "I promised to bring 'Big Drama Show,' like street fight. I don't feel his power. I feel his distance. He has great distance. He feels [my power], and after second round I understand that it's not boxing. I need street fight. Just broke him. That's it."
Brook said, "I'm devastated. I expected him to be a bigger puncher. I think in the second round, he broke my eye socket. He caught me with a shot, and I was starting to settle into the fight, but I was seeing three or four of him, so it was hard to get through it. I was tricking him. His shots were coming underneath, and I was frustrating him. I was starting to settle into him, but when you see three or four of them, it is hard to carry on."
Speaking on the stoppage, Golovkin's trainer Abel Sanchez said, "The corner did the right thing. It was a matter of time. He was taking too many clean shots. At that point when they stopped it, it was over. Gennady knew it was over, and he was touching him with too many clean shots. I think something is wrong with [Brook's] eye, and the heavy hands were going to injure him permanently. I noticed it in the second round when he kept pointing to it and kept touching it. [Ingle] did say that something was wrong with his eye. But it wasn't so much with his eye as he was getting hit with too many clean shots. That could be very dangerous." He also stated that Golovkin was too eager to knock Brook out, "He was trying too hard to knock Kell out. The not smiling [Friday at the weigh-in], he had an hour and 40-minute ride [because of traffic]. He was upset and wanted to get on the scale and get out of here. He just was trying too hard. I was trying to tell him this is a 12-round fight. Just beat on him, beat on him, practice. I wanted him to use the jab more. He wasn't. He would use it for half the round and then not use it."
Golovkin stated although Brook fought like a true champion, he was not a middleweight.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.espn.co.uk/boxing/story/_/id/17515170|title=Golovkin stops Brook after corner throws in towel|date=2016-09-10|website=ESPN.com|language=en|access-date=2018-12-29}}</ref>
== Viewership ==
In the UK, the fight reportedly had 752,000 [[pay-per-view]] buys on [[Sky Box Office]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Weekly viewing summary (Sky Box Office Events buys between 5{{ndash}}18 September 2016)|url=http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/weekly-viewing-summary/|website=[[Broadcasters' Audience Research Board]]|accessdate=22 February 2020}}</ref>
In the US, the fight was aired live on HBO in the afternoon and drew an average of 843,000 viewers and peaked at 907,000 viewers. This was considered by HBO to be very successful for an afternoon showing. A replay was shown later in the evening as part of the world super flyweight title fight between [[Román González (boxer)|Roman Gonzalez]] and [[Carlos Cuadras]]. The replay averaged 593,000 viewers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mmapayout.com/2016/09/ggg-draws-843k-hbo-viewers-for-saturday-afternoon-fight/|title=GGG draws 843K HBO viewers for Saturday afternoon fight : MMAPayout.com: The Business of MMA|website=mmapayout.com|access-date=May 19, 2017}}</ref>
{| class="toccolours" style="font-size: 85%;"
|-
! style="background:#e6e8fa; color:#000; text-align:center;"| Weight Class
! style="background:#e6e8fa; color:#000; text-align:center;"|
! style="background:#e6e8fa; color:#000; text-align:center;"| vs.
! style="background:#e6e8fa; color:#000; text-align:center;"|
! style="background:#e6e8fa; color:#000; text-align:center;"| Method
! style="background:#e6e8fa; color:#000; text-align:center;"| Round
! style="background:#e6e8fa; color:#000; text-align:center;"| Time
! style="background:#e6e8fa; color:#000; text-align:center;"| Notes
|-
|Middleweight
|{{flagicon|KAZ}} [[Gennady Golovkin]] [[List of current world boxing champions#Middleweight (160 lb/72.6 kg)|(c)]]
|def.
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Kell Brook]]
|align=center|TKO
|align=center|5 (12)
|align=center|1:57
|
|-
|Bantamweight
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Lee Haskins]] [[List of current world boxing champions#Bantamweight (118 lb/53.5 kg)|(c)]]
|def.
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Stuart Hall (boxer)|Stuart Hall]]
|align=center|UD
|align=center|12
|align=center|–
|-
|Super Featherweight
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Martin Joseph Ward]]
|def.
|{{flagicon|UK}} Andy Townend
|align=center|TKO
|align=center|8 (12)
|align=center|0:54
|-
|Super Middleweight
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Callum Smith]]
|def.
|{{flagicon|HUN}} Norbert Nemesapati
|align=center|RTD
|align=center|7 (12)
|align=center|3:00
|-
|Flyweight
|{{flagicon|PHI}} [[Johnriel Casimero]] [[List of current world boxing champions#Flyweight (112 lb/50.8 kg)|(c)]]
|def.
|{{flagicon|UK}} Charlie Edwards
|align=center|TKO
|align=center|10 (12)
|align=center|1:57
|-
|Super Bantamweight
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Kid Galahad (boxer)|Kid Galahad]]
|def.
|{{flagicon|ITA}} Emiliano Salvini
|align=center|TKO
|align=center|4 (8)
|align=center|0:38
|-
|Super Bantamweight
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Gavin McDonnell]]
|def.
|{{flagicon|NIC}} Robin Zamora
|align=center|PTS
|align=center|8
|align=center|–
|-
|Middleweight
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Craig Richards (boxer)|Craig Richards]]
|def.
|{{flagicon|UK}} Dalton Miller
|align=center|PTS
|align=center|4
|align=center|–
|-
|Super Middleweight
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Paul Smith (boxer)|Paul Smith]]
|def.
|{{flagicon|HUN}} Daniel Regi
|align=center|TKO
|align=center|5 (6)
|align=center|2:16
|-
|Super Lightweight
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Conor Benn]]
|def.
|{{flagicon|UK}} Joe Ducker
|align=center|KO
|align=center|2 (4)
|align=center|0:24
|-
|}
== References ==
{{Reflist}}{{S-start}}
{{Succession box
| title = [[Gennady Golovkin]]'s bouts
| years = September 10, 2016
| before = vs. [[Dominic Wade]]
| after = [[Gennady Golovkin vs. Daniel Jacobs|vs. Daniel Jacobs]]
| with =
}}
{{Succession box
| title = [[Kell Brook]]'s bouts
| years = September 10, 2016
| before = vs. [[Kevin Bizier]]
| after = [[Kell Brook vs. Errol Spence Jr|vs. Errol Spence Jr.]]
| with =
}}
{{s-end}}
==External links==
* {{URL|http://boxrec.com/show/736736|Gennady Golovkin vs. Kell Brook}} at [[BoxRec]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golovkin, Brook}}
[[Category:2016 in boxing]]
[[Category:2016 sports events in London]]
[[Category:September 2016 sports events in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Boxing on HBO]]
[[Category:Boxing on Sky Sports]]
[[Category:Boxing matches at The O2 Arena]]
[[Category:Boxing matches involving Gennady Golovkin|Brook]]
[[Category:Middleweight championship matches]]