GGG vs Derevyanchenko tonight at 2am, live on Sky Sports Action
Saturday 5 October 2019 14:06, UK
Kell Brook insists that he showed "a blueprint" of how to beat Gennadiy Golovkin, but admits his defeat had lasting ramifications.
Brook, then the IBF welterweight champion, moved up two divisions totalling 13lbs to challenge world middleweight champion Golovkin three years ago, but had his eye socket broken in a fifth-round defeat.
"He was at his peak which shows you the man I am - a welterweight jumping up to middleweight," Brook told Sky Sports.
"Golovkin was the most feared man on the planet at the time but Kell Brook just jumped straight in with him.
"Do I regret it now? Maybe, with what happened in the fight.
"But you can't think like that, at the time. The opportunity was there for me to shock the world and I went for it. It didn't go my way but I got good credit.
"I showed a blueprint of how to beat him. I showed everyone he can be beaten.
"And he has been beaten since. He isn't the same fighter, I don't believe."
It was Golovkin's 36th consecutive victory without defeat, and his 23rd stoppage in a row.
Tonight at 2am, live on Sky Sports Action, he will contest the vacant IBF middleweight title with Sergiy Derevyanchenko after losing his titles in a rematch with Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez last year.
Brook's gym-mate, WBO super-middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders, is a future option for Golovkin but believes this weekend's fight will damage the Kazakh puncher.
"It's a fight that, you could say, will not be skilful. It will be a scrap," Saunders told Sky Sports.
"This fight is not about standing back technically, ping ping ping. This will be crash, bang, wallop.
"It will be over quickly. Whoever the winner, it will be a war.
"This is a fight for Golovkin which will take the edge off him. It will put a bit more age on him."
