On February 19th, the world will finally pay witness to one of the most highly anticipated rivalries in English boxing. Two world-class boxers with hall of fame resumes look to settle their differences and prove who’s worthy of U.K supremacy. No we’re not talking about Tyson Fury against Anthony Joshua. Amir ‘King’ Khan takes on arch-nemesis Kell ‘Special K’ Brook. Nearly a decade in the making do these men finally square off live in the Manchester Arena, being such a huge event that the tickets sold out in 10 minutes.
Kell Brook (39-3, 27 KO) debuted professionally in 2004 and gained stardom when he defeated ‘Showtime’ Shawn Porter via majority decision to claim the IBF welterweight title. Amir Khan (34-5, 21 KO) debuted in 2005 finding earlier success in his career just four years later when he defeated Andreas Kotelnik via unanimous decision to take home the WBA Junior welterweight title.
Of the two, Amir Khan has had a more decorated career holding titles in two division and has notable wins against the likes of Carlos Molina, Chris Algeri, Marco Antonio Barrera, Zab Judah and Marcos Maidana to name a few.
What has always derailed Amir Khan has been his very susceptible chin having suffered knockout losses to Danny Garcia at super lightweight, then moving up to 160lbs against Canelo Alvarez then most recently against Terence Crawford at welterweight. Khan has also lacked activity most recently in his career having only fought six times in the last seven years. Most recent fight being a win against Billy Dib in July 2019.
Kell Brook is also coming off a bit of a time away in the ring, although not as long, being away since November 2020 in a loss against Terence Crawford which ended in a 4th round stoppage. He hasn’t had as many big matchups as Amir Khan, but he in his own right has also held titles in two divisions. Brook made noise after defeating Porter in 2014 and after three successful title defenses dared to do the improbable when in September 2016 jumped up to middleweight to challenge then unified title holder Gennady Golovkin. Though many counted out the British champion, he showed courage and fundamentals in giving GGG a good fight until in the sixth round the fight was stopped in what was an orbital bone injury to Brook. Brook though suffered his first career loss, was praised by many for taking on such a daring challenge. However, that injury would haunt Brook for the rest of his career, as a year later Brook was stopped by rising welterweight contender Errol Spence Jr, losing his IBF title via 11th round stoppage of his re-aggravated orbital injury.
Taking a year off and moving up to super welterweight, a rejuvenated Brook’s career winning his next three bouts until in 2020 he moved back down to welterweight in a losing effort to Terence Crawford. With both men having gone through the same obstacles of jumping up divisions to challenge middleweights and being key wins to fighters like Terence Crawford and Errol Spence, they reached a crossroads in their careers where it’s time to settle their grudge match.
While both of their careers unfolded, both men had a civil war of “Who is the better boxer?” Trading jabs on social media to one another. This Saturday at an agreed catchweight of 149 lbs, we will bare witness to the conclusion of a decade long rivalry of simply who is better.
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