All the anger and all the pain and all the resentment of all the lost years came flooding out of Kell Brook in Manchester last night. The hurt of all the years he felt he was disrespected by Amir Khan, all the years he felt he was underrated by him, flowed into his fists and beat the man who he regarded as his tormentor for so long into defeat.
It took until 51 seconds of the sixth round for referee Victor Loughlin to save Khan from further punishment and stop the fight. There were no real protests from him or his corner. From the first bell, Brook had roamed the ring with an intensity that Khan could not match. His focus never wavered. His gaze never wavered. He stalked Khan and left him with nowhere to escape.
Khan had threatened briefly in the early rounds and had attacked Brook with the kind of combinations that might have finished the fight if they had connected. But Brook evaded them and slowly, surely and relentlessly began to establish his superiority. He showed no mercy, grim-faced in his quest for respect.
Kell Brook defeated long-term rival Amir Khan in dramatic fashion in Manchester on Saturday
By the end of the fight, Khan’s face was pockmarked with bruises and blotches. In this War of the Roses, Brook and Yorkshire were the winners and even though his fans were outnumbered, it was they who made themselves heard the longer the fight went on. Khan was so comprehensively beaten, it is hard to see where his fight career goes from here. Brook looked as if he was born again.
So many things have passed in their lives. One has been stabbed and left close to death and one has been a celebrity in the jungle and starred in his family’s own reality TV show. Both have lost devastating fights to some of the greats and finally last night when they are 35 and their careers are almost over and they have close to nothing left, they met to settle their grudge.
It was a long time in the making, this fight. Its gestation was full of angst and anger and bitterness and resentment. Brook’s conviction that Khan never gave him the respect he was owed underpinned it and fuelled the ferocity of Brook’s desire to exact his revenge in the ring.
In front of a crowd supporting Khan, Brook impressed and forced a sixth-round stoppage
The point is that even though they had nothing left to prove in this unforgiving sport where they have scaled the heights and won world titles and tasted brutal defeats at the hands of men like Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford, they still had something to prove to each other.
They knew that even after all the battles they have been through, there was a possibility, a danger perhaps, that this fight would define their legacy and shape how they are remembered. That was what fuelled them — particularly Brook — in the run-up to this fight and made the preamble so unpleasant, laced with accusations of racism and homophobia.
Khan versus Brook was the fight that appeared to have got away. Like Tyson Fury versus Anthony Joshua may have got away. It should have happened ten years ago or five years ago but Khan always seemed to feel, as a 2004 Olympic silver medallist, the fighter with a higher profile, the first of the two men to win a world title by five years, that fighting Brook was somehow beneath him.
At 35 and nearing the end of their careers, the pair finally settled the longstanding grudge
Khan wanted to conquer America. He felt Brook was too parochial to be able to match those ambitions. But then in August 2014, on perhaps the best night of his boxing life, Brook won the IBF welterweight title by beating Shawn Porter in California and suddenly both men were bona fide superstars.
When they finally faced each other in the ring last night, they were regarded by most neutrals and the bookmakers as equals, men who have had fine careers and who have not ducked fighting the best fighters.
There was no world title on the line and it was fought at a catchweight but there might just have been more pride at stake than either man has risked before.
Khan wanted to conquer America and felt Brook was too parochial to be able to match that
After so many years of waiting, there was one last delay. The fighters were late coming into the ring after an issue surrounding Brook’s gloves and after he had climbed through the ropes, the gloves were taken off and then laced up again. Brook was booed roundly by the Manchester crowd when he entered the ring.
Even Khan’s entrance music was fittingly retro. The strains of Chaka Khan singing Ain’t Nobody filled the arena, which was packed with a sell-out crowd, as Khan walked to the ring. Khan was dressed all in white, Brook in brilliant red. Khan prowled the ring before the fighters were introduced but neither man looked at the other.
Both men flew into the fight from the first bell as if making up for lost time. Khan unloaded with a couple of those quicksilver combinations that illustrated his hand speed but midway through the round Brook wobbled his opponent with a straight left. Khan stumbled and for a second it seemed he was vulnerable but he regrouped.
Yorkshire’s Brook was booed roundly by the Manchester crowd when he entered the ring
Brook tried to take advantage but Khan ducked under an overhand right and grinned at Brook to show he hadn’t hurt him. Khan grinned at Brook and played the showman but Brook’s focus did not waver. He kept his eyes pinned on Khan, his expression set and grim. When he got back to the corner, he raised his eyebrows at his corner to signify he thought he had the best of it.
Khan came out swinging wildly in the second and in the third he connected with a right-left combination but Brook ended the round on top, staggering Khan with a clubbing right and then pinning him in Brook’s corner as Khan covered up and rode out the last seconds before the bell.
Neither man was fighting as if they thought the fight would last the distance. Cries of ‘Yorkshire, Yorkshire,’ came from Brook’s fans in the stands and Khan ended the fourth round pinned on the ropes again after he had been rocked by another huge right from Brook.
Brook was clearly on top now. He pummelled Khan throughout the fifth, unflinching and grim. Khan was breathing heavily now and when he tried to grin back at Brook, it was a thin smile.
Most of Brook’s punches went unanswered as Khan was chased around the ring, his head rocking back time after time. It was only in the dying seconds that Khan hit back with a swinging left.
But both fighters came out swinging as if neither thought the fight would last the distance
The same pattern continued into the sixth round as Khan offered less and less resistance. It was one-way traffic and it was starting to feel as if the fight was entering dangerous territory for Khan. It was at that point that the referee stepped in and threw his arms around Khan and waved the fight off.
Khan protested but there was no fierce resistance in those protests. The destiny of the fight had been established by then. It was clear there was only going to be one winner. These are two fighters who have suffered some hard, hard defeats in their career. The referee made the correct decision.
After Brook was hoisted aloft on his trainer’s shoulders and took the plaudits of the crowd, he walked over to Khan’s corner where his vanquished opponent was recovering. They spoke for a few moments and then they embraced and all that hate and all that resentment that both men have harboured for so long finally drifted away into the night air.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
