This is a fantastic time for British boxing, look at the big names we’ve had recently: Rigo’, Gennady Golovkin and Jorge Linares—the big names like sampling the noisy British atmosphere.
Sadly, our fighters lost to those three names, but Jazza Dickens, Kell Brook and Anthony Crolla should all be praised for stepping in with them.
I know Kell well so am glad his eye is on the mend. I trained him for a while and have known him a long time. I said beforehand that he’d have had to catch Golovkin early, capitalise on it and get on him, because Golovkin would be adjusting early. Kell needed a Tyson-Bruno moment—Bruno caught Tyson in their first fight but never capitalised on it.
Kell caught him with some good shots early yet Golovkin just came through it. Despite that, Kell was fantastic—he did everything and more that was asked of him. Now he can make a massive impact in the 154lb division if he decided to leave welterweight behind.
I’ve always said that you would see the best of him at light-middleweight, I said that when I trained him and more so now that I’ve seen him against Golovkin.
People had questions about Dominic Ingle stopping the fight, but when you know a kid you know the distress signals and you are the best man in the house to decide if he’s had enough. Dom could see that, he could see the eye injury. It is dangerous to fight anyone with eye damage, let alone someone like Golovkin, who is trying to put you away—you could walk on to something huge.
Golovkin had pinned Kell to the ropes, was working the body and head and was looking dangerous, so it was the right thing to do. But what Kell can do now is look at it like this, he’s been in the ring with someone as dangerous as Golovkin, stood there, had a go, traded shots and didn’t go on the floor.
‘With his eye fixed, his weight right and his confidence still high, Kell can bounce into the light-middleweight division, should he decide to, and make some massive fights. Best of luck to him.’
If you hadn’t stopped the fight and Kell carries on then what does it do to his confidence if he gets hit with something massive and was laid out flat? Kell left that fight on a massive high; his confidence will still be there and, if anything, he’ll believe in himself even more than he did going into that fight.
Going forward with his career, Dom has given Kell a big lift. The trainer shouldn’t be bothered about his own ego, he has to do what is best for his fighter. When going up on that ring apron, Dom knew that he was going to get flack, but he was looking after his fighter’s career so wasn’t too bothered.
With his eye fixed, his weight right and his confidence still high, Kell can bounce into the light-middleweight division, should he decide to, and make some massive fights. Best of luck to him.
