K2 promoter Tom Loeffler chats it up with Ring Magazine to talk about a number of topics in the sport today. Check out what he had to say...
Loeffler on his thoughts on the Crawford-Postol fight:
"Going into it a lot of people said it was going to be 50-50. I thought it was going to be very close. I thought Postol would be able to use his reach and his tricky style but you got to give Terence a lot of credit. He showed he's a true champion, he showed he can adapt to different styles. He was southpaw the whole time and then switched to right handed in the 12th round so you got to give Terence a lot of credit and beating another champion like that - big statement."
On what he thinks of Gennady Golovkin facing Kell Brook from a fan's perspective:
"Well I'll tell ya, whenever you can sell out the O2 Arena, which is one of the biggest arenas in Europe, in 11 minutes -- literally 11 minutes -- I mean you can see the fan reaction. The media reaction is great. See the fans in England, they recognize the struggle that Eddie Hearn has had getting big welterweight names to fight Kell Brook. Same struggles we've had in getting big middleweight names to fight Gennady.
"Kell Brook doesn't know how to lose, he's 36-0, he's an undefeated welterweight champion. Gennady doesn't know how to lose, he's 35-0 and he's the best middleweight champion. And for Gennady to go defend his titles in Brook's home country - I mean that evens out a lot of the playing field. We've talked about the time difference, we talk about the jet lag, talk about the arena with all of Brook's fans. But that's the thing - Gennady doesn't care where he fights, he wants to show that he's really a true definition of a world champion. He's fought in so many places around the world, and this is a great event."
On why people are making a big fuss about GGG-Brook being a mismatch when welterweights have challenged middleweights in the past:
"I don't know, I mean it's pretty well documented that we went down the list. We started with Canelo, then Saunders, then Eubank. I mean it's been very well documented everyone we've tried to do the fight with and by the time Eubank didn't sign the contract, or Eddie couldn't get Eubank to finalize the deal, we were running out of time. Eddie had the O2 Arena reserved, it's on Sky PPV, we had the HBO logistics in place, so we were running out of time. So when Eddie said 'you know I can't get Eubank to sign, let me call Brook,' that was his idea. And he really saved the day because...you've got to give Kell Brook a lot of credit for taking that fight. It shows that he has a lot bigger heart than a lot of the middleweight champions that won't take the fight.
"And it was the exact same deal, it wasn't like all the sudden Brook got offered a lot more money. It's was the same exact deal that Eddie had offered to Eubank. So Kell's making a lot of money on the fight and it's a great event for both fighters."
On if he thinks we'll see Canelo Alvarez test himself against a middleweight this year before finally being willing to face Golovkin:
"I mean that's truly up to Canelo and Golden Boy. You know he moved down to 154 for this fight. Golden Boy has told me that they want shoot for September 2017. I really believe that Canelo wants to fight Gennady at the right time so look - if everything happens the right way in September for Gennady and September for...Canelo's not in an easy fight either. He went down to 154, he's fighting Liam Smith. So he's gotta win that fight, they gotta keep winning, and if both of 'em keep winning it's going to be a monster fight next year.
"If the fans only have to wait one year for that fight, that's a lot better than a lot of other fights that took longer to make. So we can't force people to get in the ring, but all we can do, from my side, is try to build Gennady as big as we can make him with every fight and I think this is a huge statement. Selling out a big arena like that, it's gonna be on Sky Box Office, I think it's a huge step for Gennady's career."
On if it's unfair for fans to criticize Canelo for fighting Liam Smith just because they're not familiar with him:
"That's, uh, that was a strategy, it seemed like, on the Canelo side. I think there was a lot of flak as far as what happened with the WBC and fight fans want to see the fights right away, and actually from our side we want to see the fight right away. But again, it's easy to make a fight when both guys want to fight. Like I said with the Kell Brook fight - we made that fight in literally 2 days. When both guys want the fight it's easy to make the fight. When there's one guy that doesn't want to make the fight, whether it's Saunders, whether it's Eubank, whoever it is, going down the list, you can't force people to get in the ring. I can yell and scream all I want, that doesn't mean they're going to get in the ring. So that's why we got to keep going back to giving Brook a lot of credit. Gennady says there's talking champions and there's boxing champions. And Brook and Gennady are both real boxing champions.
On if it gets frustrating when fighters like Billy Joe Saunders and Daniel Jacobs call out Golovkin only after he has another fight signed:
"It's one thing to talk about fighting Gennady, it's another thing to actually sign the contract. And if you price yourself out, if you ask for $4 million dollars, you're basically pricing yourself out of any realistic situation to fight Gennady. There's a lot of different ways to say no...I've gotten used to people they want to fight him as soon as I announce a fight, when they know there's no danger of actually having to take the fight, but it's one thing to sign a contract like Brook did, it's another thing to talk about fighting him."