By: Hans Themistode
It was one of the biggest fights of the year. You remember it don’t you? The fight just took place and it had nothing but fireworks.
Wait, that’s right. It never happened.
The once highly anticipated fight between Kell Brook (38-2, 26 KOs) and Amir Khan (34-5, 21 KOs) was rumored to take place for years now. Fans have spent countless years hoping and praying that it would actually take place but unfortunately for the public, it has never happened.
Khan has always been on the fence about a fight with Brook. One minute he desperately wants the fight and the next he can care less about sharing the ring with his British rival.
With talks of their fight non existent, Khan recently expressed an interest in finally making it happen.
“I think it’s a great idea, definitely,” said Khan. “I think both of us will be fighting end of the year. Then we see early next year that fight between me and Kell can happen. We are both similar age. I think it’s a fight that we’ve been trying to make for a very long time. I think it’s getting very close to it now.”
Whether it is true or not, there seems to be a bit of progress for a British showdown to take place. This fight has been dangled in the face of boxing fans for years. Will they show the same interest as before? Khan believes so.
“We are in talks with Eddie and Kell’s team so hopefully we can make that fight happen. It’s a fight that the public want. It’s a massive fight in Britain, so let make it happen.”
Both fighters are still relatively young with Khan checking in at 32 years of age and Brook coming in just one year older. A boxers prime typically spans their early 30s but the milage that these two have accumulated in the ring actually brings there ring age closer to 40 than 30.
For Khan, he has been in numerous tough fights in his career. His never back down attitude has allowed him to pick up huge wins against Zab Judah, Marcos Maidana and Devon Alexander. He also has several knockout losses to Danny Garcia and Breidis Prescott. As bad as those losses were, they pale in comparison to the vicious one punch knockout loss at the hands of Canelo Alvarez in 2016. It was a fight that saw Khan move up two weight divisions, and although he boxed well early on, he paid a heavy price with the defeat.
Most recently, Khan was seen in the ring losing to arguably the best fighter in the world in Terence Crawford. There is no shame in that at all but when watching the fight, Khan just didn’t look the same. His trademark speed and boxing ability seemed to be all gone.
As for Brook, he too has been in a number of wars. The former Welterweight champion also moved up two weight divisions to take on former unified Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. Brook fought a great fight that night but was ultimately stopped in the fifth round due to a broken orbital bone. Brook would once again get his orbital bone broken but this time at the hands of Errol Spence Jr the following year.
Much like Khan, Brook hasn’t looked the same in wins over Michael Zerafa and Siarhei Rabchanka. It’s safe to say that both fighters have seen better days.
Now that a match between the two is being worked out, the question that must be asked is, does anyone care to see it?
Although it would still draw some interest from the public, the expiration date on this fight has passed. If it does actually take place, the winner of this contest would prove absolutely nothing. They are both past their prime and the matchup doesn’t bring as much buzz as it once would have.
If the fight happens, then so be it, but this is a fight that should have happened a long time ago. Now, no one really cares.