Kell Brook is hoping to step out of Amir Khan’s shadow on Saturday night after being there his whole career.
At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Khan was picked over Brook which is when their feud began.
Since then, Brook has been unfortunate to be in this position, which is most likely the reason for the chip on his shoulder.
In 2016, Khan made $13.1 million against Canelo Alvarez, while Brook made $5.5 million against Gennady Golovkin (GGG).
Despite being IBF Welterweight Champion between 2014-17, Brook could not entice Khan into a fight.
In Khan’s eyes he was too big for Brook. For Brook, he was better than Khan and deserved to show it.
Brook has been calling out Khan since his world title win against Shawn Porter in 2014.
The closest the fight came was in 2017 when Khan demanded a 70-30 split, despite being the challenger to Brook’s Welterweight title.
This showed how Khan sees the dynamic between him and Brook.
It is easy to see how Amir Khan rubs Brook the wrong way.
Amir ‘King’ Khan (34-5)
At 17, Khan became Britain’s youngest medallist in Athens.
He was also one of Britain’s youngest World Champions at 22.
Khan is known for his incredibly fast hands.
Capable of landing three or four punches with no reply, this propelled Khan to the top.
He went on to have a top level career fighting some of the great fighters of our time.
Fights against Canelo, Terrance Crawford and Danny Garcia were all bad losses for Khan.
Canelo and Garcia both knocked him out.
Crawford caught Khan with a low-blow which he could not recover from.
He was accused of throwing in the towel and giving up.
Khan was also losing the fight decisively.
His worst defeat was to Breidis Prescott in Manchester.
Prescott, unbeaten at the time, finished his career with 18 losses.
For Khan to win this fight, he needs to keep his hands fast and his chin away from Brook.
Five of his last eight wins have come after 12 rounds.
He has clearly lacked the power to finish people off, so to win this fight he will most likely look to go all the way with his lightning fast hands.
Kell ‘The Special One’ Brook (39-3)
In Brook’s recent fights, he has started quickly.
He had reasonable starts against GGG, Errol Spence Jr and Crawford.
Brook fell off quickly in these fights but all three fighters pose a tougher test than Khan.
This shows Brook likes to impose himself on fights and step onto his opponents which could cause issues for Khan and his fragile chin.
The Special One’s big weakness will be his eye sockets.
Both sockets have caused him trouble against GGG and Errol Spence.
However, Khan is unlikely to have the damage to hurt his big weakness that his big losses have had.
Verdict
We often learn more about boxers when they lose than when they win.
Brook’s losses have generally looked more impressive than Khan’s.
He started well against higher tier fighters that got the better of him.
Khan is no GGG, Errol Spence Jr or Terrance Crawford.
So if his eye sockets hold up, Brook is the slight favourite for this fight.
The Special One will come out fast and hard, something that Khan is not notoriously good at dealing with.
Brook can step out of Khan’s shadow, if he can get the job done.
While Khan will want to show why he was always a bigger draw than Brook.
(Images courtesy of Aaron Bolster)
