SIX OF THE BEST
Devastating performance from Bomber Brook stops Khan to become ‘king of the north’ in Manchester
SHEFFIELD star Kell Brook rolled back the years and claimed one of the finest wins of his career with a sixth-round stoppage of Amir Khan last night to claim the bragging rights in their long-awaited contest at Manchester’s AO Arena.
Brook has courted a showdown with his British rival for several years and the Yorkshireman delivered a supremely polished performance, shrugging off being vociferously booed in his Bolton-born opponent’s back yard.
Khan has a rich history at this venue, winning his first world title here in 2009, but while he showed glimpses of his best, he was repeatedly troubled by Brook’s power in this 149lb catchweight contest.
While he refused to go down in his first bout since July 2019, Khan’s legs routinely betrayed him, stiffening on several occasions as he absorbed some punishing blows
throughout, leading to
They tried to get into my head. They tried to push and poke at me
referee Victor Loughlin stopping the contest 51 seconds into the sixth round.
Brook was forced to change his gloves moments before the hotlyanticipated fight started, with British Boxing Board of Control supremo Robert Smith watching on. That did not affect Brook, who started sharply and hurt Khan in the first round with a right hook and an uppercut. The Bolton man wobbled but regained his composure to ride out the early storm.
Khan was better in round two but struggled to catch Brook cleanly with his combination punching. It was Brook who landed another significant blow near the end of the second and the man from Sheffield asserted in the third. He caught
Khan with a fearsome right hand. For two 35-year-old fighters who had not been in the ring professionally for two years, the pace was unrelenting but it was Brook who was getting the better of the opening exchanges.
In round four, Brook tasted success with the left jab and overhand right combination. Khan was wobbling under the heavy pressure of Brook’s big hitting, with the Sheffield fighter pinning his Bolton rival on to the ropes and dishing out some serious punishment. The relentless attacks continued in the fifth, with Brook hurting Khan again with another powerful right hand. With Khan’s legs wobbling, this was becoming one-way traffic in favour of Brook.
Then the inevitable happened in round six. A right uppercut was followed by a left hook and left Khan at the mercy of Brook, who finished the job in style by stopping his rival in the sixth. The referee was sensibly quick to intervene after the left hook as Khan had taken plenty of heavy punches.
Both had been world champions at their respective weight divisions of yesteryear, but this was a devastatingly dominant performance from Brook that Khan had no answer to. This fight was the one that fans had waited a decade to see and Brook claimed the glory in an entertaining bout that delivered on the hype.
Brook, who had a message saying ‘I told ya’ written on to his hand wraps, told Sky Sports Box Office: ‘I knew it was going to happen. It was just a matter of time before I was getting him out of there.
‘Those are the fights I wanted to be involved in when I walked into a gym as a kid. What a feeling. War of the Roses. I’m king of the north and took out Amir Khan, just as I said I would.
‘I put a lot of pressure on myself, I told everyone, and I did believe it. I knew from 18 years old I was a better fighter than him. He had the push and the promoters behind him because he won an Olympic medal.
‘They tried to get into my head. They tried to push and poke at me. I even had people knocking at my door in the morning, trying to disrupt my sleep.’