By Greg Noble: Amir Khan and Kell Brook are both coming off TKO losses to one of the world’s top tier fighters in Terence Crawford. Both recently have said they would be interested in settling their grievances for one another in the ring this year.
The fight has been talked about since 2015, with negotiations breaking down numerous times or because the fighters opted for other big fights at the time.
When the fight did not materialize back then, Brook went on to fight with Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin and lost by TKO in a grueling but competitive five round fight in 2016.
Golovkin stated that Kell was a ‘true champion’ but not a middleweight. Following this, Brook went on to fight Errol Spence Jnr in 2017 at his beloved Bramall Lane stadium.
A far less experienced Spence at the time managed to claim victory in the penultimate round as Brook suffered an eye injury that forced the right to be concluded.
Since then, Brook has been involved against lower quality opposition until the superb Crawford defeated him.
Khan, who always chases the super fights, chose to fight Canelo Alvarez in 2016.
Khan boxed well for the first few rounds until Canelo found his feet in the fight and concluded the fight swiftly with a devastating KO of Khan in the 6th round.
Similar to Brook, Khan faced lower-level opposition after his break from boxing until he was beaten convincingly by Crawford in 2019.
Hopes of the British fight have renewed hope as both fighters have said recently that it is a fight they both still crave. This is a fight that once would have sold-out large football stadiums in the UK and had strong PPV numbers.
So how big is this fight now? Eddie Hearn has stated recently, “It’s not as big as it once was, but I’d still like to see it,” The fight now is only a fight that would be for entertainment purposes and a high-profile grudge match.
It is clear to see that both Khan and Brook’s days of fighting the sports elite fighters are over now, so why not fight each other in a big fight for their British supporters.
It may take till fight week for the fight to gather momentum again, but you can be sure the trash talk will be enough to engage fight fans around the UK.
With talks renewed for what seems like the 100th time, it is still doubtful this fight will ever occur. With stumbling blocks such as weight and percentage splits, there is plenty to be agreed upon.
Both coming off losses to Crawford produces a new narrative for the fight, so let us hope finally we can watch Brook and Khan settle their personal feud in the ring.