By Radio Rahim
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum really admires the courage of IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-0, 25KOs), who is moving up by two weight divisions to challenge WBC, WBA, IBF, IBO middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs).
The fight was officially announced last Friday to a stunned boxing public, and takes place on September 10th at the O2 Arena in London.
Brook is the second British fighter in recent months to take a big leap in weight. Amir Khan, back in May, went up by eight-pounds to challenge Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez for the WBC middleweight title at a catch-weight of 155-pounds. Brook is heading up by thirteen pounds to the full 160-pound limit.
Brook will be at a disadvantage from nearly every corner of the fight, but he believes that his speed, power and boxing ability will be enough to shock Golovkin in the fall.
Arum is very stunned that Brook would take such a risk, not only to move by two full weight divisions but to face a boxer who is feared and regarded as of the best pound for pound fighters in the sport.
"I think its a new trend for English fighters. They've always had a reputation about being masochists. And Kell Brook is demonstrating that trend continues. I don't know if its good or bad for the sport, but certainly you have to admire the balls on Kell Brook - not just moving up two weight classes to middleweight, but fighting Golovkin, who is one of the great middleweights to come down the pike in recent years," Arum told BoxingScene.com.
