British boxing hero Ricky Hatton, a fighting man who knows all about how special it feels to smash the odds, and, all about how it feels to be smashed when the odds against you are obeyed, is hoping his countryman Kell Brook can pull it off against Gennady Golovkin on September 10. But, in speaking with Ring Magazine, “Hitman” Hatton wasn’t about to betray his brutally honest nature and he had to admit how he feels Golovkin will prove too much for Brook.
Brook is of course moving up from 147 to challenge the feared middleweight destroyer, a destructive puncher nobody has thus far been able to go the full 12-rounds with, and it is this “punching machine” that Hatton feels will win in London in just over six week’s time. Hatton said Brook “cannot be blamed” for taking this, the ultimate of gambles, but the warrior who faced three pound-for-pound stars during his exciting career – Kostya Tszyu (a magnificent win), Floyd Mayweather (a spirited loss) and Manny Pacquiao (a brutal KO destruction) – can only hope that Brook will somehow prove him wrong and score a sensational upset win.
“I think he’ll obviously have a few good rounds. I hope I’m wrong. I hope he does it,” Hatton said to Ring. “But Golovkin is what he is. He is a punching machine, a lot bigger than Kell. I think he’ll have his successes and I hope he proves me wrong, but you think size will tell at some point in the fight. You have to give Kell credit for taking such a big fight and obviously moving up. But at the end of the day who can blame him? It’s a massive payday. He’s wanted to fight the Amir Khans and the big names in his weight division and he’s come up with probably one of the biggest names in boxing. He’s been watching the parade go by, Kell. I feel sorry for him. Pacquiao never came off. Mayweather never came off. The tests in his own weight division haven’t come off so he has to take this one.”
Hatton makes an interesting point and observation: if Brook had managed to get himself a massive welterweight clash with a Khan, a Danny Garcia or even a Pac-Man, would he have taken the Golovkin fight? No way. But desperate men do desperate things and Brook, perhaps due to a, ‘the hell with it’ mentality spurred on by the way months of his career had passed with precious big fight action to show for it, jumped in and took the GGG opportunity when he was able to due to the way Chris Eubank (either Junior or Senior) either overplayed his hand at patience or never wanted the fight in the first place (take your pick).
But will Brook shock the world the way Hatton did against an ageing Tszyu on that dizzying Manchester morning in 2005, or will he get stopped in a competitive fight similar to Ricky’s loss to Mayweather in 2007, or worse still, will Brook get annihilated in quick fashion the way Hatton did against Pacquiao in 2009?
September’s fight is somewhat hard to pick (not GGG’s win, that looks assured, but the manner in which he wins is at least debatable) and some good judges are giving Brook a shot. Hatton sounds as though he really wants to pick a Brook win but he is simply unable to do so. As he made more than clear though, the former 140-pound king will not be at all displeased if Brook manages to prove his Golovkin pick wrong.
