• Boxing

Kell Brooks’ fight against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) was a costly one, as he not only lost the fight by a 5th round knockout, but he also suffered a broken right eye socket. Brook’s trainer Dominic Ingle threw in the towel during the 5th round to have the fight stopped.

The large crowd at ringside booed the stoppage at the O2 Arena in London, England. The fans paid their hard earned money and they wanted to see the fight play out to it’s conclusion rather than having it stopped prematurely.

Brook said that he wished that the fight had been allowed to continue because he’d rather than have knocked out than stopped in the manner that it was. At the time, Brook was being bombarded by Golovkin with huge shots to the head and body. Things looked bleak for Brook. Before the round started, it looked like Ingle was letting Brook know already that he planned on having the fight stopped.

Ingle had Brook’s head covered completely with a wet white towel, so that only his eyes could be seen. In judging the body language, it looked like Brook was totally done. Ingle let Brook out for the 5th, but he was quick to toss the towel into the ring.

Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn has officially confirmed that he suffered a broken right eye socket. This is bad news for Brook, and for his boxing fans. It’s unclear what the next step is for Brook as far as getting medical treatment for the problem. One can only hope that the injury doesn’t impact Brook’s career or his eye site. I would be a pity if Brook’s career is cut short due to his broken eye socket.

Brook reportedly suffered his broken eye socket in the 1st round after getting hit hard by a left hook to the head from Golovkin. It was a big shot that Golovkin got everything he had in the punch. Brook was staggered from the shot. It was lucky that the fight didn’t end right there, because Golovkin had him hurt enough to finish him. Golovkin didn’t seem to be that anxious at the time to try and finish Brook.

“My trainer was looking out for me; he’s known me a very long time,” said Brook after the fight. “I think the eye injury may be bad, but if I lose I want to lose by getting knocked out. I’m not sure what I will do next, what weight I’ll fight at. I need a little time to make a decision.”

Brook would likely argue that he would have never been stopped if not for the eye injury, and perhaps it’s true. But with the way that Golovkin was punching by the 5th, Brook wouldn’t have gone far into the fight even if he had been injury free. Golovkin was slowly and steadily breaking Brook down with body shots.

“I wanted a ‘Big Drama Show’, this was more like street fight, I knew I was stronger than him,” said Golovkin. “He couldn’t handle my power. I knew I was hurting him…I want to fight Billy Jo Saunders next, he has the WBO belt and I want a unification fight to get all the middleweight titles.”