Do you foresee yourself and Amir Khan burying the hatchet after this fight? Will the bad blood end when the fight ends?

Kell Brook: “I don’t think it will.”

Honestly?

KB: “I don’t think it will. He’s just a guy that… I don’t like his face!”

But what if after 12 rounds or less, the respect grows? You know? Oh to hell with it, let’s grab a beer!

KB: “Who knows? All I want to do right now is hurt him. He’s the enemy – big time.”

It’s certainly not bluff with Kell Brook. The contempt he has for British counterpart Amir Khan is visceral. For over a decade, the pair have insulted each other via social media or face to face. Both campaigned at the same weight. Both won world titles. Both faced off against some of the finest fighters in the world. They just never faced each other.

That changes on Saturday when the pair throw down in a money-spinning 12-round, 149-pound catchweight clash at the Manchester Arena.

No longer are they considered among the top fighters in the world. There was a time when the outcome of Khan-Brook may have changed the course of welterweight history but not anymore. However, the potency of the rivalry remains intact, and despite the matchup being a decade overdue, this all-British collision has still managed to capture the public’s imagination.

“I’m ecstatic and I can’t wait to feel the vibe in that arena,” Brook told The Ring during his final week of hard training. “It sold out in seven minutes or something. You know there’s going to be a lot of noise. What an event it’s going to be. I am ready to go.

“I honestly think this fight will have everything. There’s going to be drama. Khan will be hurt in my opinion, but pride is going to pull him through and push him on. There’s gonna be blood, sweat and tears. It’s going to live up to all this buildup and make up for how long people have been made to wait.”

Photo by Lawrence Lustig

It’s impossible to assess form going into this fight. Brook (39-3, 27 KOs) is coming off a fourth-round stoppage at the hands of WBO welterweight titleholder and pound for pound star Terence Crawford in November 2020. Khan’s most recent outing was in July 2019, when he scored a fourth-round stoppage of Billy Dib, who jumped up multiple weight classes for a payday but had virtually no chance of winning.

The style confrontation is easier to predict. Brook judges distance well and has excellent variety and a solid punch. The Sheffield man can work up-close and he’s a physically strong fighter. Khan, however, likes to keep it long and will be letting his hands go in sharp bursts before looking for an exit.

How will Brook cope with Khan’s hand speed?

“By just being me and adapting,” responded the former IBF welterweight titleholder immediately. “I’ll find a way and that’s what winners do. Timing beats speed in my opinion. There will be times where I’ll punch with him, but it won’t just be crash, bang, wallop. We’ll have a perfect gameplan. When he wants to go on the backfoot, we’re going to take it to him. We’re gonna make him do what he doesn’t wanna do.

“I’ve played this fight out millions of times in my head… millions of times. I wake up in the middle of the night and I can’t get back to sleep because the adrenaline is running through my body. I just keep going over it and over it. It’s a huge fight this.”

The 35-year-old Brook has been boxing since he was a child. He achieved his dream of becoming a world champion, but it’s been an arduous and punishing journey. There were back-to-back facial fractures sustained in stoppage losses to Gennadiy Golovkin and Errol Spence Jr., in 2016 and 2017 respectively. There’s been the rigors of making the welterweight limit on a body that really wants to be a junior middleweight. One would forgive “Special K” if he wanted to put boxing on the backburner.

“Believe it or not, I’m loving it,” said Brook in earnest. “The mojo is well and truly back. I feel like I’m 23. I’ve got a spring in my step. It’s actually gonna be hard to hang the gloves up. I’m going to have to sit down with my immediate family and talk about what I’m going to do. What am I going to do?

“People are thinking this fight is going to be the end of me regardless. What else have I got to prove? But it’s hard because I love the challenge. I love when people mention all these fighters, like [Keith] Thurman and even Chris Eubank Jr. now. It excites me and that’s why I live for this sport. I love this game and it’s gonna be hard [to retire]…. It really is going to be hard.”

As Brook contemplated his future, there was real emotion in his voice. He’s a fighter to the core and, on Saturday, in the role of Captain Ahab, he will finally face off with the white whale. Will the harpoon land or will Khan prove to be as elusive inside the ring as he was outside of it?

Khan-Brook, plus undercard action, will be broadcast live by Sky Sports Box Office in the U.K. and on ESPN+ in the U.S.

Tom Gray is managing editor for The Ring. Follow him on Twitter: @Tom_Gray_Boxing

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