By Gregory Stangrit

Oleg Hermann, manager of IBO/IBF/WBC/WBA middleweight world champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (36-0, 33KOs) is pretty surprised with the widespread reports that claimed his fighter was sick in the days leading up to last Saturday's fight with IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-1, 25KOs).

The claims first surfaced on the social networks, but soon they were being repeated in the press and even by Brook's promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport, and by Sky Sports analyst Johnny Nelson.

Golovkin's promoter Tom Loeffler believes the rumors first started after his fighter refused to do any interviews after the final press conference and just left.

In the fight with Brook, Golovkin was hit with more punches than most opponents are able to land. Brook's unexpected success led to HBO's own announcers questioning the health of Golovkin.

Golovkin still came through in form, breaking Brook's right eye socket and stopping him in the fifth round at the O2 Arena in London.

"Our team is very busy during a fight week. So we didn’t have time to disprove these stupid talks. By the way, Tom and [trainer] Abel [Sanchez] told the press not to worry about Gennady’s health, but those stories just didn’t stop. Sometimes we just don’t know what else people have to come up with about Golovkin. And sometimes we are pretty surprised by the creativity of those who make up these stories for the press. We have the official accounts [on social media] where you can find real information about the fighter. And we are not responsible for any other information," Hermann told BoxingScene.com/Allboxing.ru.

Gregory Stangrit covers boxing for Allboxing.ru.