The long-simmering rivalry between two British ex-champions, Amir Khan and Kell Brook (pictured), will finally come to a head in a 149-pound catchweight battle Saturday, Feb. 19th at AO Arena in Manchester. Roughly 20,000 fans will be in attendance for this British super fight, which sold out in ten minutes when tickets went on sale in December. Promoted by Boxxer, Khan vs. Brook and select undercard fights will stream live and exclusively in the United States on ESPN+.
The 35 year-old Khan (34-5, 21 KOs), from Bolton, England, has been in the spotlight since the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, when he took home a silver medal as a 17 year old. As a pro, Khan unified world titles at junior welterweight and fought myriad top names, including Marco Antonio Barrera, Danny Garcia, Marcos Maidana, Paulie Malignaggi, Canelo Alvarez, and Zab Judah. He last fought in July 2019, knocking out [a badly undersized] former featherweight title holder, Billy Dib, in four rounds.
Brook (39-3, 27 KOs), a former British champion from Sheffield, England, made three successful defenses of the IBF welterweight world title he won from Shawn Porter in August 2014. His bold 2016 challenge of middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin ended in a fifth-round knockout defeat. He then lost his welterweight title to Errol Spence Jr. via eleventh-round knockout the following May. Brook won three consecutive fights before challenging WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford in November 2020. Brook led on two scorecards before being knocked out in the fourth round.
“Kell Brook versus Amir Khan is a fight that has sparked international interest,” said Boxxer CEO Ben Shalom. “This legacy-defining fight between the UK superstars, who have been world champions on American soil, now meet in a final showdown at AO Arena in one of the most eagerly anticipated fights in UK history.”
"I think Kell Brook is very bitter, and this is a good time for me to put the issue straight between us because he has always thought he is the better fighter than me," Khan told Sky Sports. "He's always said he should have had the recognition that I had and believes that should have been him. But at the end of the day, my skills made me the name I am today.”
In a recent interview with Sky Sports, Brook said: "This is a real grudge match, there's no love lost in this fight and we both don't like each other. The fans and the pundits can't split us, and that shows how even this fight is going to be."
