TWENTY years since their first schoolboy spar and a whole decade after they initially vowed to knock each other out on Sky Sports’ Ringside show, Amir Khan and Kell Brook are FINALLY set to meet.
There is almost nothing these two 35-year-olds have been able to agree on in that time – apart from the number of zeroes on their cheques for tonight’s showdown.
The barbs have taken a sinister twist this week, with Brook strongly denying Khan’s accusation of racism after his ‘poppadum chin’ remarks
But they have been bubbling away since before Bolton’s King Khan became a household name by winning silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
With that, the baby-faced 17-year-old jumped above Brook in the pecking order for the era of British boxing that followed.
Khan’s Olympic final was watched by eight million people on terrestrial TV, Brook’s untelevised pro debut a few weeks later barely had 1,000 in attendance.
Then Khan capitalised on his fame to take his mega-money PPV roadshow to America while Brook took the hard route to his IBF world title.
Even when matchmaker supreme Eddie Hearn had them both signed up to his Matchroom brand, Khan cut a three-fight deal early to leave Brook hanging and face Terence Crawford instead.
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But now – with very few avenues left open to them and Sky Sports willing to throw bundles at the pair – they will finally crown a 147lbs king of the North.
Brook will always insist Khan ducked him until the very end, Khan will forever believe he was a league above before they even got started.
It doesn’t matter now. We’re about to see which shadow can still shine.
As the pair prepare to lace up, SunSport looks at the road both men have taken to this long-awaited bout, where they have crossed paths and how tonight’s clash at the Manchester Arena will be won and lost.
WEIGHT
Khan was a world champion at the super-light limit of 10st and enjoyed his finest wins at welter’s 10st 7lbs maximum.
Brook is a career welter and former IBF champion at the 147lbs mark but it is an open secret that since bulking up to middleweight to challenge Gennady Golovkin in 2016, he has had a wretched time returning to his old division.
This bout was made at the strict catchweight limit of 149lbs and there was a £100,000 fine for every lb either man was over on Friday morning.
One question from Brook to Khan this month has resonated: “It’s not a world title fight, so why have you insisted on a weight limit, why are you making us risk our health to make the weight?”
Brook did manage to make the weight though, with both men saving themselves a pretty penny when they hit the scales yesterday.
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MIND
Khan reckons he owes his old foe rent for the amount of time he has been living in his head.
The Olympics hero has managed to laugh and smile through most of the build-up.
The I’m A Celeb star insists Brook has been a starstruck fan of his, he even offered to buy him a coffee when the punches are all thrown and done before things turned nasty again this week.
If Khan triumphs he will be praised for keeping a cool head and carrying out a gameplan. If he loses it will be safe to assume he underestimated Brook’s ability and his burning desire.
It’s the same for Brook; win and he will be hailed for harnessing all his resent and bitterness into something positive.
But if he loses he will be accused of getting too involved, of boiling over and failing to control his emotions.
The winner will need ice in their veins and fire in their bellies.
POWER
Khan’s greatest strength has always been his blistering hand speed that has helped him score 21 of his 34 wins by stoppage.
It’s not one-punch power of Deontay Wilder or Naoya Inoue, it’s rapid combinations that are fired off in a blur, if the 35-year-old still has the fast-twitch fibres to pull-off his trademark finish.
Brook’s right hand is his honey shot and he likes to call the heaviest and most harmful ones his ‘chocolate brownies’.
It gets thrown straight as an arrow or chopped down on his usually smaller opponents and his uppercut is spiteful. If Khan is caught flush by the Sheffield star, it could be an early night.
CHIN
Khan summed it up best in the build-up when he admitted that resilience is neither man’s strong point.
The sickening KO losses Khan has suffered to Breidis Prescott, Danny Garcia and Canelo have all marked him out as vulnerable and the cruel word Brook likes to use is ‘chinny’.
But he showed huge heart when he held up against Marcos Maidana to win a magnificent 2010 decision.
The leaky defence did improve during his time with trainer Virgil Hunter but it remains to be seen if Khan can keep his irrefutably untrustworthy chin out of harm’s way.
Brook has problems further north than his whiskers, it’s his cheekbones and eye sockets that are his kryptonite.
Gennady Golovkin shattered the right side in 2016 and Errol Spence Jr completed the pair a year later.
Neither orbital bone looks fully healed yet Brook insists the titanium implants he needed to rebuild his face have made him a Terminator.
But the stoppage against Terence Crawford came from a jab right on the danger zone that didn’t seem too punishing but sent the veteran spiralling into panic mode.
If Khan can land a flurry of quick shots it will be interesting to see how Brook’s resolve and skull hold up.
CORNER
Amir Khan’s last loss was to Terence Crawford in 2019, Brook’s last contest was the same a year later. So is it genius of Khan to hire Crawford’s mentor Brian McIntyre for this or a misguided disaster?
BoMac – as he is known – will be getting very well paid for this potential retirement bout so is he a master tactician or an expensive American gun for hire in the all-English shootout?
Khan relocated to Omaha, ran up in the mountains and sparred Crawford – who has also flown to Manchester to enjoy the show – but how much will they have really gelled?
Khan looked more powerful under Freddie Roach and more sensible with Virgil Hunter but can he combine the two under his latest training team?
Brook is a graduate of the brilliant Ingle gym from Wincobank in Sheffield. He walked into the gym as a nine-year-old boy and spent his life under the wing of the brilliant Brendan Ingle.
Son Dominic is now the team leader and he knows Brook better than anyone but they have parted for a couple of bouts recently, including the Crawford defeat.
It will either be the perfect way to end their professional partnership or a sad end to a fractured relationship.
SPEED
Teenage and early-twenties Khan was rapid, his fists were a blur and he could dart in and out of range like a ghost.
Even in the violent losses to Garcia and Canelo, he made strong starts with blistering movement until split-second lapses cost him horrifically.
If power is the last trait to leave an ageing fighter then reflexes and speed are definitely among the first to abandon him.
By the time he steps back in the ring, Khan will have been out of action for two years and seven months, his battle will be against ruthless Father Time as much as it will be against Brook.
Brook has always prided precision and technique over speed. And his favourite mantra ahead of this career-defining row is ‘timing always beats speed’.
He believes that if he can block or dodge a handful of Khan’s scattergun shots, he will need just one laser-guided missile to bring peace to Northern boxing.
EXPERIENCE
Khan has handled immense pressure since going to the 2004 Athens Olympics – aged just 17 – as Team GB’s only boxer in Greece.
When US promotional giants Golden Boy snapped him up, he went on a scintillating run of beating up Americans in their own backyards.
Paulie Malignaggi, Zab Judah, Luis Collazo, Devon Alexander and Chris Algieri were all conquered by the marauding Pakistani-Brit between 2010-2015.
And later in life he has also been the away fighter – brought over and paid well to lose – against Canelo and Crawford.
There is very little the reality TV star has not seen, enjoyed or endured and that could be a crucial upper-hand.
Brook’s much more modest start means he has always felt like the underdog, he has boxed as the float fight, at the end of the night while fans were walking out and been first on the bill when most fans were still queuing outside.
That siege mentality might help him in this dog fight but it might also be one challenge too much to handle.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Travelling to California in 2014 to beat red-hot American Shawn Porter in his own backyard was an incredible feat by Brook that still goes underrated.
It wasn’t some fluke power punch either, it was a controlled and dominant points win over an excellent world champion who rallied back and was still mixing it with the very best in November.
Brook failed to land a unification bout and his career was never the same after he took life-changing money to challenge middleweight KO machine Gennady Golovkin in 2016 – making it another chapter of his success story but with a sad ending.
Khan landing the 2004 Olympic silver in Athens was incredible as he was just 17-years-old and was the ONLY Team GB boxer who qualified for Greece.
And he was only beaten to gold by amateur legend Mario Kindelan.
The win helped change the funding for British amateur boxers and helped secure much greater medal hauls at 2008 and Anthony Joshua’s 2012 home crowning.
The WBA super-light world title win over Andriy Kotelnik in 2009 was a brilliant landmark.
But Khan’s finest runs of form was the USA defences over Paulie Malignaggi, Marcos Maidana and Zab Judah.
Even up at welterweight he secured mesmerising wins between 2012- 2015 over Carlos Molina, Luis Collazo, Devon Alexander and Chris Algieri before going one step too far with the 2016 Canelo challenge.
TRADING BLOWS
Brook’s best insults:
“I remember that first spar, in the first round I thought he had the fastest hands I had ever seen, he was popping me. But then in two and three I found my timing and I schooled him”
“When I am done with Amir Khan he will be ‘a mere memory’”.
On Amir’s taste for starring on reality TV shows: “I call him Amir Khandashian, he is a media whore’.
On Khan baselessly claiming that Brook is a closeted homosexual: “He should get a smack because he went all over the line. There’s banter, but that went over the line.”
Khan’s harshest digs
“I was always levels above Kell, I was training to go to the Olympics and he was just another body they brought in for me to beat up. I schooled him, threw him out and told the next guy to jump in.”
On Brook’s alleged taste for booze binges between bouts: “I think he goes on benders for a couple of days.
“We know with Kell that he is one of these guys who can go off the rails after a fight, on a p***-up. He’ll go missing for a couple of weeks and put on a load of weight.”
On claiming his foe is gay, he said: “There’s talks about him being gay and if he is a real man then he should come out and say it. Come out and tell the truth. I think he is very confused.”
On their 20-year rivalry: “Kell is very jealous of me, he always has been. I have been living in his head for so long I probably owe him a lot of rent.”
AND FINALLY… PREDICTIONS:
EDDIE HEARN (Matchroom promoter)
“Kell Brook just seems fresher so my money would be on Kell Brook.”
CONOR BENN (Welterweight rival)
“I think Khan, I really do, I know his chin and punch resistance are gone but I think he will outwork Brook.
“I always thought Kell but now I think Khan, we will see who has what left.”
SHAWN PORTER (Ex-IBF welterweight champ beaten by Brook in 2014)
“They are both not what they used to be.
“After fighting Brook I would have said Brook to win but now I think it is an evenly matched fight.”
GEORGE GROVES (Ex-super-middleweight champion)
“I am excited and it is just as interesting now as it would have been five years ago. They are not in their peak but it is still just as fascinating. I think it is even.
“I think, as great as Khan was, I used to make Brook the favourite but they now have more miles on the clock and have had significant spells out of the ring.”
KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV (UFC legend)
“I know Khan has a tough opponent but it’s going to be a close fight. My opinion is it’s going to be a close fight, a very close fight.
“Khan has a tough opponent, but he can beat him.”
