‘I don’t regret it’ – Kell Brook totally honest about Gennady Golovkin fight that could have blindsided him as he praises GGG’s ‘mad power’ and admits: ‘It was the hardest blow I’ve ever had never received”

Kell Brook is finally set to take on bitter rival Amir Khan this weekend – a fight he’s been chasing for nearly a decade.

The all-British clash will be live on talkSPORT on Saturday night, ending fans’ long wait to see the pair in the ring together.

The two men are now 35 years old and certainly do not meet in the prime of life.

The reasons for this date back to 2016, when public anticipation for a fight between them was at its peak.

Talks took place, but out of the blue Khan instead agreed to drop from 147lbs to 155lbs for a fight with Canelo Alvarez, which he lost by knockout.

In response, Brook jumped two full splits from 147lbs to 160lbs and fought the man fans then accused Canelo of avoiding – Gennady Golovkin.

The Briton was a big underdog and, as expected, lost his unbeaten record.

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Brook’s corner threw in the towel midway through the fifth round as he struggled with a right eye injury.

It later turned out to be an orbital fracture that required serious surgery.

“I don’t regret it,” Brook insisted on talkSPORT.com.

“I finished it on my feet, my corner threw in the towel.

“Obviously the fighter in me wants to keep going, but one more big hit and I could have been blind in that eye.

“So looking back it was the best thing to do, but at the time it was my first loss.

“It is what it is, I guess, it was a great night and the fans still come up to me now and tell me how excited they were when I lifted it in the second round.

“A welterweight kid going up against someone who was a total middleweight nightmare.”

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While Brook’s corner throwing in the towel was undoubtedly the defining moment of the fight, the second round also stood out for many fans who attended the O2 Arena that night.

After surviving a scare in the opener, Brook came out firing for the second round as he stood in the center of the ring and exchanged shots with Golovkin.

A particular uppercut from the Brit sent the crowd into a frenzy and he followed that up with a flurry of punches that momentarily stopped GGG in his tracks.

In the end, none of it was enough, but Brook still remembers it fondly.

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“It was surreal,” he recalled, “It was weird because normally you can’t really hear or see the fans, but I could feel a surge of energy.

“When I had that uppercut and I had a flurry, I had like a wave of energy behind me.

“It was amazing, absolutely amazing to be there with him.

“Hearing that roar and feeling it too.

“It was the hardest hit I’ve ever taken, crazy power.”

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