Unified middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin will defend his belts against welterweight world titlist Kell Brook on Sept. 10 at the O2 Arena in London, organizers announced Friday in a huge surprise.
The match comes as a shocker because Golovkin promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions and Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn were close to finalizing a deal for Golovkin to fight middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr.
Hearn was also in the process of finalizing a deal with Top Rank for a welterweight unification fight between Brook and Jessie Vargas.
But Eubank apparently got cold feet when it came to fighting Golovkin, and the Brook-Vargas deal became difficult to finalize because of how much of the pie the Vargas side was demanding.
Golovkin, already blown off by lineal middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, titleholder Billy Joe Saunders and now Eubank, needed an opponent. Brook, looking at taking a small share of the money against Vargas, instead agreed to move up to 160 pounds to challenge Golovkin.
Golovkin-Brook will air in the United States on HBO and on Sky Box Office pay-per-view in the United Kingdom.
"I'm very excited to be fighting in front of the great British boxing fans and promise another 'big drama show' against Kell Brook," Golovkin said.
Said Brook: "This is the fight and the moment I have been waiting for for some time. We've tried and tried to lure the best to come and fight me and now we've got the best of the best, the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world is coming to the U.K.
"When this fight got offered to me I accepted within minutes and I can't wait. Everyone knows I'm a huge welterweight and I know I will carry my speed and accuracy and even more power through the weights. This is the ultimate fight, one of the biggest international fights the country has seen in many years. You have seen some huge names run from GGG but I'm running to him. I'm a special fighter and I will show the world on Sept. 10."
The match comes as a shocker because Golovkin promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions and Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn were close to finalizing a deal for Golovkin to fight middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr.
Hearn was also in the process of finalizing a deal with Top Rank for a welterweight unification fight between Brook and Jessie Vargas.
But Eubank apparently got cold feet when it came to fighting Golovkin, and the Brook-Vargas deal became difficult to finalize because of how much of the pie the Vargas side was demanding.
Golovkin, already blown off by lineal middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, titleholder Billy Joe Saunders and now Eubank, needed an opponent. Brook, looking at taking a small share of the money against Vargas, instead agreed to move up to 160 pounds to challenge Golovkin.
Golovkin-Brook will air in the United States on HBO and on Sky Box Office pay-per-view in the United Kingdom.
"I'm very excited to be fighting in front of the great British boxing fans and promise another 'big drama show' against Kell Brook," Golovkin said.
Said Brook: "This is the fight and the moment I have been waiting for for some time. We've tried and tried to lure the best to come and fight me and now we've got the best of the best, the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world is coming to the U.K.
"When this fight got offered to me I accepted within minutes and I can't wait. Everyone knows I'm a huge welterweight and I know I will carry my speed and accuracy and even more power through the weights. This is the ultimate fight, one of the biggest international fights the country has seen in many years. You have seen some huge names run from GGG but I'm running to him. I'm a special fighter and I will show the world on Sept. 10."
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