KELL BROOK has got a dream fight with gruesome Gennady Golovkin because of Brexit and Chris Eubank Sr’s increasing eccentricity.
Promoter Eddie Hearn was about to finalise a deal with American veteran counterpart Bob Arum for Brook to put his IBF welterweight title on the line against WBO champion Jessie Vargas, in an exciting unification clash.
But when the pound dropped substantially in value following last month’s vote to leave the EU, the fight was no longer financially viable and negotiations ceased.
Hearn then concentrated on getting Chris Eubank Jr’s name on a contract to meet superstar world middleweight champion Golovkin, who is eager to come to London.
But his father, who seems to live more and more in his own fantasy world, made the kind of impossible demands not even the most militant trade union leader would have had the gall to propose.
Eubank, among his many crazy requests, wanted Hearn to double the ticket prices which would have meant ringside seats costing £2,000 each.
He then insisted on £100k worth of tickets to be gifted to him, as well as selecting who he wanted in the Sky commentary team and picking the boxers he felt should be on the undercard.
Hearn, not surprisingly, declined the Brighton braggart’s ridiculous requests and offered the fight to Brook.
Kell leapt at the chance to jump a couple of weight divisions to tackle Golovkin for his 11st 6lb crown at an already sold-out O2 Arena on September 10.
Boxing is not a statistical sport but the venomous punching Golovkin’s stats are worth looking at.
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Every one of his 22 world title battles have ended in knockouts and he hasn’t been taken the distance for eight years.
The only fighter to have pressured Golovkin beyond eight rounds is Lancashire’s Martin Murray, who lasted to the 11th before being rescued by the referee 17 months ago in Monte Carlo.
Murray told me: “Golovkin hurt me with both hands and with every punch he landed.
“It was agony when he whacked me to the body. I admire Kell’s guts and he doesn’t need me to tell him he’s taking a huge risk.”
Arum, 84, paid Brook a back-handed compliment when he said: “British fighters are all masochists. They must like getting hit. Why else would Kell Brook be fighting Golovkin?
“Amir Khan was a masochist when he fought Canelo Alvarez. Brook is a worse masochist for going in with one of the best middleweights of all time. And jumping two weight classes to do so.
“That’s an English fighter for you. They have a lot of balls and they take chances. That’s the way it has been for the 50 years I’ve been in boxing.”
Only a few all-time greats like Mickey Walker, Sugar Ray Robinson, Carmen Basilio, Sugar Ray Leonard and Emile Griffith have won world titles at welter and middleweight.
Brook, who is also unbeaten, has about as much chance of beating 10-1 on Golovkin as Boris Johnson has of being named Diplomat of the Year.
Interestingly, young Chris Eubank would have received in the region of £4million to challenge Golovkin.
Instead, thanks to his dad’s bizarre negotiating technique, he can look forward to picking up a measly £100k when he defends his British belt against Birmingham’s Tommy Langford in his next fight.
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