Abel Sanchez: Golovkin Was Too Anxious, He Was a Little Sloppy

By Steve Kim

While Gennady Golovkin (36-0, 33KOs) successfully defended his middleweight belts this past weekend by stopping Kell Brook in five rounds at the O2 Arena in London, England - it was far from his sharpest performance.

The usually accurate Golovkin missed more than usual and was hit by several hard combinations from Brook.

His trainer, Abel Sanchez, told BoxingScene.com - "I thought he was a little anxious, I thought he did things he normally doesn't do, not calm and collected. But he was trying to make a point after he hurt him in the first round. Brook's a good fighter, he's elusive and he didn't get caught with a clean shot. But all in all, I thought he fought well. He did what was expected of him, just a little sloppy."

Brook had his biggest moments in the second round and had pockets of success in the third frame before being worn down by the hard-punching Golovkin, who fractured the challenger's eye socket early on. As Brook was being hit with a barrage of punches in the fifth, his trainer Dominic Ingle threw in the towel to stop the contest.

With the victory, Golovkin improved to 36-0 (33 KO's). So what did the trainer say to his star pupil in the immediate aftermath of the fight?

"Exactly what I just said, I thought he was trying just a little bit too hard," answered Sanchez.

"But I said that during the fight too, in the corner. I wanted him to stop throwing his hook so often because he was ready for it. I wanted him to throw straight punches to the chest and forget about his head. But he was trying to make a statement against a guy who was very elusive and very good. He was the welterweight champion.

''We were expecting, somewhat, that kind of performance. I expected to lose a couple of rounds at the beginning and then catch up to him later and that's exactly what happened."

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.