Jacobs' Trainer: 'Of Course' Golovkin Was Hurt By Kell Brook

By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Gennady Golovkin actually laughed when asked if any of Kell Brook’s punches hurt him.

Golovkin took more punches than usual when he boxed Brook six months ago, but the undefeated middleweight champion insists nothing Brook landed truly hurt him. Brook was especially effective in the second round, when the IBF welterweight champion most memorably connected with a left uppercut that snapped back Golovkin’s head.

“He beat me in the second round,” Golovkin said, “and I forgot [about it] after the second round.”

Daniel Jacobs’ trainer doesn’t believe Golovkin. Based on Golovkin’s reactions to those punches from Brook, Andre Rozier is sure Golovkin was hurt by a welterweight who moved up two weight classes to challenge Golovkin.

“Of course he was affected,” Rozier said. “Who gets hit with uppercuts and your legs sort of buckle, and you’re gonna say you didn’t get hurt? I mean, he might’ve thought he wasn’t hurt. But he got caught with some clean shots.

“And when you saw him starting to swell, he started to bleed, that means you’re hurt. If someone hits me and I start bleeding here [points to around his eye], I’m hurt. No matter if I say, ‘Oh, that didn’t hurt,’ maybe I’m a little bit more hurt than I thought I was. But yes, I thought he got his attention, if not anything else.”

Rozier and Jacobs believe that if the Brooklyn native can land the type of clean punches against Golovkin that Brook hit him with, that Golovkin will have a tougher time taking those shots from a bigger, stronger opponent Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

Meanwhile, Golovkin’s trainer has a different interpretation of what took place between Brook and Golovkin before Golovkin stopped Brook in the fifth round September 10 at O2 Arena in London. Abel Sanchez says once Golovkin knew he didn’t have to respect Brook’s power, he “went overboard” in trying to please fans and in the process became reckless against a talented opponent who was able to use his speed and skill to land flashy shots against his fighter.

“Kell’s a sharp puncher, a very good champion, undefeated,” Sanchez said. “We knew we were gonna get hit early because he’s gonna be faster. Gennady had to assimilate to the speed. But once he hurt [Brook] in the first round – I think that for him, Gennady, in my opinion, when he hurts somebody in the first round, he just loses that respect for what he has in front of him. He should’ve concentrated.

“We were looking, in the corner, to get him to just quit looking for the shot again and just work for it. But because he didn’t, he made it the kind of fight that he had said [it would be]. If you remember some of the articles or some of the interviews before the fight – he wanted to make it a bar fight, a street fight, is how he called it. And that’s exactly what he made it once he hurt [Brook]. It was like he had no respect for him. It gave the fans a thrill. It didn’t thrill us in the corner, but it gave the fans a thrill. But I think that what was said a little while ago, I think that did entice some people to look at [Golovkin] different because everybody’s talking about it.”

The heavily favored Golovkin will try to extend his knockout streak to 24 when he faces Jacobs for Golovkin’s IBF, WBA, IBO and WBC middleweight titles (HBO Pay-Per-View; 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT; $64.95 in HD).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.