Now or never. All about Khan’s duel with Brook

Khan vs Brook is Mayweather vs Pacquiao the British way

The correspondence confrontation between Kell Brook and Amir Khan began a long time ago, and sometimes their competition in sports was more like a blood feud. They first clashed in the ring during Khan’s preparation for the 2004 Olympics – then Amir was considered the star of the team and became the only boxer of that team who climbed the podium. In the future, the Olympic silver medalist repeatedly reproached the antagonist for not having such serious achievements in amateur boxing, and Khan objectively had more regalia as a pro.

Despite a sensational knockout defeat to Breidis Prexott, already in 2009, Khan became the world champion, defeating Andrei Kotelnik on points, and after a couple of fights he unified the belts in unification with Zab Judah. This was the end of the Briton’s “spoil”, because in the next fight he scandalously lost to Lamont Peterson, and then was severely knocked out by Danny Garcia.

Despite the fact that “Special” turned pro a year earlier than his compatriot, most of the time he was on a baggy diet, from which he began to exit just at the time of Khan’s stay in a career hole. At the end of 2013, he knocked out ex-champion Vyacheslav Senchenko, and the following year he took the world title from Sean Porter. In such a situation, it was easy for Brook to taunt the antagonist, who, however, continued to push pathetic speeches about his greatness even after indistinct tricks with Carlos Molina and Julio Diaz.

It was during the period of the 14-15s that the fight at that time of the most popular British boxers looked most appropriate, but they continued to fight outside the ring, masterfully fighting on the pages of specialized publications.

Running parallel courses and unable to get a big fight at welterweight, Amir and Kell made an adventurous attempt at a middleweight title in 2016. Both for the time being looked decent with the favorites, but in the end everything ended without surprises – Canelo brutally knocked out Amir Khan in the 6th round, and GGG broke his opponent’s eye socket and the thrown towel saved Brook from catastrophic consequences.

True, in the next fight, Errol Spence again injured the long-suffering eye socket of the former world champion and actually ended his career at a high level. True, having won several passing victories, Kell once again claimed the title, when he was brought more for old merits to kill one of the strongest boxers of our time, Terence Crawford – TKO 4.

It’s funny that about the same story happened to Amir. After a heavy loss to Saul Alvarez, he spent several mismatches, and got the fight with Crawford for his still recognizable name – Terence spent two more rounds on Amir.

Obviously, the careers of the British were closely intertwined, their fight was discussed a lot in the press, and there was always a lot of tension and opposition between the athletes. However, the organization of such a duel was clearly too late, because the fighters had long passed their career peak.

It’s time to cash out the collapsed asset

The long marinating of the fight is in many ways reminiscent of the situation of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, at least on a national scale. True, there are clear differences.

Floyd and Manny had also passed their career peak by the time they met face-to-face, but by May 2015 they were still the best fighters in the division and pound-for-pound leaders.

In the case of the British, there is a strong feeling that the organization of their battle has been so dragged out that there is little left of them. To wait a little longer would mean forever losing the opportunity to cash out an asset whose quotes have been constantly falling over the past years.

Who is better preserved

Despite the fact that the current 35-year-old boxers will meet in the ring, there is something strange and repulsive in the perception of their fight. The sign “Amir Khan vs Kell Brook” in 2022 looks like part of the trend of recent years with exhibition fights, when aged boxing legends or showmen brandish their fists for the amusement of the public.

True, unlike exhibition fights, the score will be kept here by rounds and the winner will be announced as a result. They will be the boxer who is better preserved. Alas, unlike the failed mega-fight seven years ago, when Khan’s incredible speed would have collided with Brook’s great timing and skill, today it all risks turning into a confrontation between a crystal eye socket with the same fragile jaw. And in such a scenario, it will not be easy to take seriously the result of the upcoming meeting as an argument which of the antagonists was still better.