The British rivalry between Amir Khan and Kell Brook has been brewing for well over a decade. On February 19th the two finally meet at a 149lb catch-weight.
Amir Khan’s Career:
The Olympic silver-medalist, Khan (34-5 21KO’s), made his pro debut back in 2005 at super-lightweight.
He then went on to win a commonwealth title at lightweight where he defended it 3 times before stepping up to the intercontinental level. By this point, Amir Khan had accumulated 18 victories in 18 fights, with 14 coming by way of stoppage. Though the first real test of his pro career came in his 18th fight, when he came up against hard-hitting unknown quantity Breidis Prescott, for the WBO intercontinental title.
The Manchester arena was left stunned after Prescott wiped Amir Khan out inside a round with a heavy KO. This was a sign of things to come for Khan. Amir Khan a couple of fights later secured a victory against a legend, Marco Antonio Barrera, winning the WBA International title & WBO intercontinental title. A move up to super-lightweight was on the cards and Khan won the WBA world title. He successfully defended it 4 times, including defence against Marcos Maidana.
Amir Khan faced off against Zab Judah for the WBA “super” world title & IBF world title. He KO’d him in the 5th round. Shortly followed were 2 back-to-back defeats against Lamont Peterson (decision) and Danny Garcia (stoppage).
“King Khan” yet again stepped up in weight to move to welterweight, he won a WBA International title and WBC silver title. 3 unanimous decision wins in a row at welterweight saw Khan eyeing up a huge clash against Canelo middleweight, for the WBC title.
This was undoubtedly the biggest fight of Khan’s career. He was boxing really well and winning the fight on the scorecards, but a crushing overhand right by the Mexican saw Khan get absolutely nailed to the canvas in the 6th round. He took a couple of years out of the ring before coming back to welterweight and beating Phil Lo Greco and Samuel Vargas.
A fight against pound-for-pound star Terence Crawford, for the WBO world title, came about. Khan was down in round 1 and was getting stung hard. He eventually was stopped in round 6, where many fans and media thought he chose to quit. A few months later and Khan entered the ring against Billy Dib in what was labelled as a very easy payday for Khan, and he showed it in the ring.
It’s now been over 2 years out of the ring for Khan but now we have the fight that we’ve all been waiting for, the Kell Brook fight.
Kell Brook’s Career:
Kell Brook (39-3 27KO’s) made his pro debut at welterweight in 2004.
Kell Brook hardly had any amateur career unlike Khan, so it was always the case of learning on the job in the pro ranks for him. He had 16 fights, 16 victories, before fighting for the British title, where he successfully defended the belt 3 times before stepping up in competition.
A bout for the WBO Intercontinental title was next for the Sheffield man and he attained this. Successfully defended 2 times. Brook then targeted the WBA Intercontinental title, he also attained this and defended once. But it wasn’t until 2012 that Brook met his first proper tough test in the form of former world title challenger Matthew Hatton. By this point, Brook had racked up 26 victories in as many fights, 18 of those won by stoppage.
Brook completely outclassed Hatton on points, winning the IBF International title & successfully defending his WBA Intercontinental title. Then followed his first serious gut check when Carson Jones went to war with Brook for 12 rounds. Brook ultimately edged out Jones to retain his IBF International title. 1 year later, and in 2013 the two met in a rematch. Only this time Brook stopped his man.
A couple of fights on and Brook landed his first world title fight, against Shawn Porter in 2014. Brook won the IBF world title in America in a fairly dominant fashion. Then Brook had to deal with IBF mandatory challengers, where he stopped all 3 of them.
In 2016, Kell Brook dared to dream and stepped up 2 weights to fight pound-for-pound middleweight star, GGG. WBC, IBF & IBO world middleweight titles were on the line.
Though Brook sustained an eye injury and was forced to retire from the bout. At the time of the stoppage, he was level on 2 of the judge’s scorecards and was up on the other scorecard. A few months later and Brook stepped back down to welterweight to defend his IBF world title, against rising star Errol Spence Jr. Brook suffered another eye injury, to the other eye, forcing him to retire in back-to-back fights. Ultimately losing his world title.
“The Special One” stepped up to light-middleweight to face Sergey Rabchenko for the vacant WBC silver title. Brook stopped his man inside 2 rounds, more victories came at light-middleweight against Michael Zerafa and Mark DeLuca.
Brook moved back down to welterweight for a shot at Terence Crawford’s WBO world title. Brook started off the contest looking sharp, winning on the cards, but Crawford timed Brook perfectly and ended the fight in the 4th. It’s been a little over a year since that bout and Brook will face off against a fighter he’s called out for years.
Finally, They Meet
Khan vs Brook finally happens this Saturday, February 19th. Who will win this eagerly anticipated showdown?
By NSBDale
Also, read: TOP 10 MOST DANGEROUS BOXERS OF ALL TIME