By Edward Chaykovsky

WBC/WBA/IBO/IBF middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs) is knocking off a goal on his bucket list when he steps in the ring this coming Saturday night, when he faces IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-0, 25KOs) at the O2 Arena in London.

Brook is moving up by two weight divisions to challenge Golovkins for his 160-pound titles.

Golovkin has tried in the past to fight in the UK, and now he finally gets the opportunity achieve that wish.

Golovkin's handlers tried to get a fight last year with super middleweight champion Carl Froch and that fell through when Froch retired. Then they tried to get a fight with WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders and they were unable to get him, and then they tried to get British middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr. and he fell out after rejecting the terms presented by his promoter. Then Brook stepped in.

Golovkin has always wanted to put on a show for the UK fans.

“I like the UK fans. People in the UK understand boxing. There’s a lot of history and tradition. Every time I told Tom Loeffler, ‘Please, give me a chance to fight in the UK’. For me, it’s huge. I want the fight with Billy Joe Saunders and the fight with Eubank. He said we lost time with the Eubank fight but we have a contract with Kell Brook. I said: ‘I’m ready,'" Golovkin told Gareth Davies of The Telegraph.

“I’ve had fights in Kazakhstan, in Germany, in Panama. This is the boxing world. The UK is huge for me. There are some great champions from the UK. People understand boxing here. It’s like Mexico. There are true fans. I can’t just stay in Kazakhstan. I can’t stay in the United States. I want to fight all over the world. I want big fights."

As far as Brook, he is a very big underdog in the contest but Golovkin is taking him very seriously.

“Kell is a champion and I respect him. I saw a couple of his fights. He has different speed, different movement and different timing. It’s not easy. Yes, it’s a different size for us, I’m a little bit bigger, but right now I can’t say he’s an easy fight for me because he’s a very good fighter.”