By Jared Parry
One of British boxings biggest rivalries finally comes to a head when Amir Khan (34-5-0) and Kell Brook (39-3-0) lock horns this Saturday in Manchester, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Khan and Brook had very different paths to world title glory, but the fall since then has been very similar.
Khan and Brook used to spar as amateurs, but it was Khan who got selected to represent Britain in the 2004 Athens Olympics, where the Bolton boxer brought home a silver medal.
Khan made his name in the Olympics, which gave him a huge springboard when he turned professional, featuring high up on big undercards, and beginning to headline shows early on in his career.
Khan captured the Commonwealth lightweight title in his 13th fight against Willie Limond, Limond, who is not know for his power, floored Khan in the sixth round, leading to people questioning Khan’s chin. Six fights later, Khan was brutally knocked out by Breidis Prescott within a round.
Khan changed his team and moved up a division and just 10 months on from the Prescott defeat, he would beat Andriy Kotelnik to become WBA super-lightweight world champion.
Khan lost his belt to Lamont Peterson in 2011, in a fight shadowed by controversy. Peterson then failed a post-fight drugs test, but the WBA did not reistate Khan as champion, but instead made him take on Danny Garcia who was ranked #1 with the WBA. Garcia knocked Khan out within four rounds, leading to Khan to question his next move.
Brook did not have that Olympic springboard like Khan. The Sheffield fighter spent a big portion of his career on undercards, and picking up domestic and ranking belts. In 2012, Brook headlined a show in his hometown against Matthew Hatton, a convincing win finally saw him begin to be seen as a big star in Britain.
In 2012, an infamous episode of Sky Sports Ringside aired, with both Khan and Brook as guests. This lead to the pair arguing with Khan claiming he used to school Brook in sparring and he’s levels above Brook and wouldn’t fight him unless he had a world title.
Brook kept to his craft and in 2014, defeated Shawn Porter to become IBF World Champion. Brook called for the Khan fight to no avail, so continued to fight his mandatories.
In 2016, both men opted to take legacy defining fights, with Khan jumping up two weights to fight Canelo Alvarez, and Brook jumping up two weights to fight Gennady Golovkin. Both fights ended badly. Khan was on the end of a scary knockout, and Brook was stopped with a fractured orbital bone. In Brook’s next fight, he moved back down to Welterweight and lost his world title to Errol Spence.
In 2018, Khan signed with Matchroom Boxing on a three fight deal, the same promoter as Brook. Fans thought we were finally going to get the fight, but instead Khan opted to fight WBO world champion Terrence Crawford, resulting in a sixth round KO loss.
Brook fluctuated between welter and super-welterweight before he was given the opportunity to also fight Crawford in 2020, where he was beaten in the fourth round.
Many thought both men were going to retire, but in December 2021, Khan vs Brook was announced. While some fans complain its too late many are just glad that this isn’t going to become one of boxings biggest what ifs. Two men with lots of history, and a genuine dislike for each other, it doesn’t get much better than that…even if it was 15 years in the making.