Roach: Don't Blame Golovkin, Nobody at 160 Will Fight Him!

By Radio Rahim

Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach is not on board with the critics who are bashing IBO/IBF/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs) for his acceptance of a title defense against Kell Brook (36-0, 25KOs), who holds the IBF welterweight crown.

The fight was announced last Friday for September 10th at the O2 Arena in London. Fans were shocked as Golovkin was deep in negotiations to fight British middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr., who dragged his feet at signing the contract and missed a final deadline to get the deal done.

Brook is moving up two full weight divisions, thirteen pounds, to challenge Golovkin for his middleweight belts.

Roach says Golovkin is NOT to blame for the Brook defense, because the hard-punching middleweight is having significant issues with locking down an opponent in the middleweight division. In the last twelve months or so, potential fights against Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, Billy Joe Saunders, Carl Froch, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Eubank have all fallen apart. Daniel Jacobs, who holds the WBA's regular title at the weight, wants a few more fights before considering a Golovkin contest.  

"The thing is, there is nobody else out there that will fight him though. These guys are all saying no. He's a dangerous guy. I don't think it's really his fault. The welterweight, it was his decision to move up. The welterweight has to come in at 160 now, it's his choice - not Triple G's choice. It's not up to him, he's still going to fight in the same weight division that he always does," Roach told BoxingScene.com.

"This guy wants to jump up two weight divisions to meet him, and thinks he can beat him, but I think he's thinking a little bit wrong - but we'll see."