No more smiles from GGG

Rumours of viruses and jet-lag continue to shroud Gennady Golovkin’s preparations for Saturday’s world title defence against Kell Brook in mystery.

Bar an outrageous bluff from Team Golovkin, it’s difficult to see Friday’s weigh-in as anything other than a mental victory for underdog Brook.

Gone were the trademark smiles and gone was the Kazakh’s talk of putting on “a big drama show.” Gone was any interaction with the media whatsoever; the champion arrived late and left immediately after clocking 158.9lbs on the scales.

Golovkin conducted the bare minimum of interviews at Thursday’s press conference and his physical appearance left promoter Eddie Hearn and former world champion Johnny Nelson using the champion’s “drawn” and “thin” face as a source of increasing hope an upset is on the cards.

On Friday, the WBA Super, WBC and IBF champion seemed even more bereft of inspiration – raising his arms slowly to salute an Indigo Theatre crowd that spent much of the event booing him. Was he upset by the hostile atmosphere? Frustrated by the ‘traffic’ that had delayed his arrival? Sick? Jet-lagged?

Golovkin’s long-time trainer Abel Sanchez was adamant that Golovkin’s decision to bypass interviews was to allow Brook “his moment” on home turf. …

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