Kell Brook walked the walk after he and Amir Khan talked the talk for years, sniping back and forth in interviews — sometimes together, sometimes apart — before finally stepping into the ring to face one another tonight in Manchester.
It was Brook leaving with a hugely emotional victory, stopping Khan in the sixth round of the overdue grudge match, by physically overwhelming Khan and simply not letting his rival get into the fight.
Khan (34-6, 21 KO) was hurt repeatedly and just couldn’t do any real return damage, as Brook (40-3, 28 KO) kept walking him down, kept waiting for the mistakes, and eventually just fully poured on the pressure and dropped the hammers in the fifth round, then early into the sixth before the fight was stopped 51 seconds into that frame.
Khan, 35, stated in the build-up that it was as much a fight about not losing for both of them as it was for winning, and there may have been something to take from that, because Brook, also 35, didn’t talk that way. Brook talked about winning, while Khan talked about the loser possibly being haunted forever by the defeat.
Brook won. Khan may now be haunted.
Here’s what some of their fellow pros said on Twitter after the fight:
Brooks style was always wrong for khan really good timing abd distance will always beat speed.terrific performance well balanced and methodical distance and suave is key control that you control the fight
— Enzo Maccarinelli (@theRealEnzoMac) February 19, 2022
You’ve gotta be happy for Kell Brook an gutted for Amir Khan at the same time, he’s been a great fighter over the years for British boxing Khan, but Brook was the better man he won the fight clearly
— Anthony Fowler (@afowler06) February 19, 2022
One of them fight’s i didn’t want anyone to lose.. Kell looked solid out there, Khan showed heart… congrats both on a good fight! #KhanBrook
— Shakan Pitters (@ShakanPitters) February 19, 2022