Kell Brook's Makes a Shocking Confession Before Golovkin Fight

Former IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook recently opened up about his doubts and struggles leading up to his fight with middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin. Brook admitted that the fight with Golovkin was the first time he had experienced self-doubt before a match.

Brook: I honestly started to doubt myself.

"That was the first time that someone got in my head before a fight," Brook said. "I honestly started to doubt myself."

Recalling the moments before the fight, Brook revealed,

"I remember being in the hotel room thinking, ‘I’m fighting Golovkin…tonight.’" He also shared a conversation with his nutritionist where he expressed his doubts about winning the fight, saying, "I can win this fight, can’t I?" These doubts, he admitted, were a departure from his usual mindset of confidence and belief in his abilities.

As the fight approached, Brook found himself fixated on videos of Golovkin's previous knockouts, which added to his anxiety.

"In the weeks leading up to the fight, all I’d seen were videos of Golovkin knocking everyone out, and they were all middleweights. It then dawned on me that I was fighting him in a few hours," Brook recounted.

Despite his negative mindset, Brook emphasized the importance of belief in achieving success in boxing.

"A lot of it is in the mind – it’s the law of attraction – if you really believe something like I’m going to win the title with everything I’ve got, you can go out and do it – and I did," he said. However, he acknowledged that his negativity before the fight ultimately led to his first defeat.

Reflecting on the physical and mental impact of the fight, Brook described Golovkin as "an absolute monster" and admitted that the experience changed him. He vividly recalled the moment his eye was broken during the fight, a traumatic event that left a lasting impression.

The aftermath of the Golovkin fight had a significant impact on Brook's subsequent bout with Errol Spence Jnr. Having had to drop weight quickly for the fight, Brook felt ill-prepared and faced additional challenges.

"Losing had a big impact the first time, but the second loss was the biggest one for me," he admitted. "I think because Golovkin was a unified middleweight beast that other middleweights weren’t even fighting, it wasn’t as bad."

Looking back on his experiences, Brook expressed regret about the Spence Jnr. fight, feeling that he should have pulled out due to the challenges he faced in training and making weight. Despite these setbacks, Brook remains a resilient figure in the boxing world, determined to learn from his experiences and continue his career.