Ian JohnThis coming weekend, two of the best British boxers of recent generations will finally go head to head in a showdown that has been at least a decade in the making.
Sheffield’s former world champion Kell Brook will face off against another former world Champion and Olympic Silver Medal winner Amir Khan in what is likely to be one of the biggest domestic fights of the year and one of the most eagerly anticipated sports events of 2022.
The fight, which boxing experts have longed to see for many years, may come at the end of the two boxers careers, but it will perhaps answer the question of who would win in a bout between the two British former world champs?
The fight will take place at the Manchester AO Arena this Saturday to a sell-out crowd, with the bout also being shown on Sky Box Office.
It is the headline bout of a busy fight night this weekend which will also see Natasha Jonas back in action against Chris Namus, as well as a number of other exciting clashes taking place on the undercard.
Bet365 Sport has the latest odds on all fights on Saturday’s card including of course, the Brook v Khan clash with Brook the 4/7 favourite with bet365 to land the win, while Khan is the 11/8 outside bet to earn the victory.
So why is this fight been the one that many fight fans in the UK have wanted to see for so long? To answer that, we have to analyse the history and the careers of both the fighters involved.
Kell Brook – One Of The Steel City’s Finest World Champions
The famous City of Sheffield is home to much more than just the World Snooker Championship and two famous football teams. It is also famous for producing some of the top British boxing talent over the years.
Six World Champions have called the City their home, most famously Prince Naseem Hamed, but also the likes of Johnny Nelson, Clinton Woods, Paul Jones, Kid Galahad and of course, Kell Brook.
Other pugilists from Sheffield that just fell short of World Champion status include Junior Witter and Herol “Bomber” Graham.
Many of those fighters came through the esteemed Ingle Gym. Based in Wincobank, the gym has produced a number of top UK, European and World Champions over the years, as well as a host of top quality amateurs.
It was at the Ingle Gym that Brook watched Prince Naseem Hamed earn a world title as a youngster and it was Brandan Ingle who oversaw Brook as he earned a fine reputation as an amateur welterweight, winning 31 of the 36 fights he had.
Brook’s talent was clear, and he turned professional in September 2004 and quickly racked up five victories in the space of just four months. His development continued against increasingly talented opponents before he earned his first tilt at a big title, the British Welterweight title.
He beat Barrie Jones to earn that and then in his 33rd fight, earned a chance to win a world title against Shawn Porter, which he won in California by majority decision. Brook defended the title three more times before he moved up to middleweight to face Gennady Golovkin for the Kazah’s three World titles.
Brook lost that fight by TKO in the 5th and then also lost his comeback fight to Errol Spence Jr, losing his IBF Welterweight title in the process.
Three wins followed to earn Brook another world title shot, but he lost the fight for the WBO title to Terence Crawford in his last fight back in November 2020.
After sustaining severe injuries in that fight, Brook has waited almost 18 months to make his return against Khan this weekend. A fight that Brook has agitated for since 2012.
- Kell Brook – 42 Fights, 39 Wins, 27 by Knockout with 3 losses
Amir Khan – From Young Olympian To World Champion
Born and raised in Bolton, Amir Khan showed real talent when he started boxing at the age of 11 and it was just six years later that he earned a chance to represent the Great Britain team at the Olympic Games at lightweight.
Khan surpassed all expectations at the Olympics in 2004, reaching the final where he was beaten by Mario Kindelan, the very experienced Cuban, becoming Britain’s youngest ever Olympic boxing medallist.
Khan continued as an amateur for another year but he turned professional at the age of 18, gaining revenge over Mario Kindelan in his final fight as an amateur.
In the space of two years, he amassed a 12-0 record, earning a shot at the Commonweight lightweight title, where he beat Scotlands Willie Limond. He defended that title successfully four times and won the WBO Inter-Continental title over Martin Kristjansen of Denmark.
Khan was 18-0 as a professional before he took on the big-punching Breidis Prescott, and in a famous fight, Prescott twice put Khan on the canvas in the first round to earn the shock victory.
Khan bounced back with wins over Oisin Fagan and Marco Antonio Barrera, the same fighter who had beaten Prince Naseem Hamed, and in his next fight claimed a world title at light welterweight with a win over Andreas Kotelnik.
Khan then earned some of his most notable victories against Dmitry Salita, Paulie Malignaggi, Marcos Maidana and Zab Judah. He then lost to Lamont Peterson but then reinstated as champion after Peterson failed a drugs test.
However, he was knocked out by Danny Garcia in his next fight to move his record to 26-3, but bounced back with five wins in a row before he was knocked out once again by Canelo Alvarez.
Khan won his next two fights before losing to Terence Crawford for the world title and then beat Billy Dib in his last fight back in July 2019, coming out of semi-retirement it seems for this bout against Brook.
- Amir Khan – 39 Fights, 34 Wins, 21 by knockout, 5 losses.
Brook v Khan – Who Wins The Bout?
It’s pretty rare for two fighters to still be active, but both have not fought for over a year, or almost three in the case of Khan and for sure, Khan should be the more ring rusty of the two.
That maybe explains why he is the underdog for this fight with Brook being the more recently active of the two fighters.
However, Brook has taken a fair bit of punishment in his most recent losses and that has to be a consideration here. Khan will certainly be targeting those early on the bout to see if Brook has the heart to test whether his injuries are fully recovered.
Brook for me is naturally the bigger man and I think that will probably be the defining factor here, so I am taking Brook to win by KO/TKO or DQ at 13/10.
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