Ben Shalom is strutting around after getting one of British boxing’s biggest rivalries over the line.
And for good reason. The newcomer to boxing has managed to do what more high-profile promoters before him couldn’t achieve by making Amir Khan vs. Kell Brook a reality. The pair meet on Feb. 19. And Shalom will be the man staging it.
It shouldn’t have been this difficult to get Khan and Brook in the ring. This was a dream fight for British boxing for about a decade, as both are talented, charismatic and accomplished. That included a potential showdown for domestic supremacy around 2014, near their peaks.
The fact Brook was the bigger man was an obstacle but it would’ve taken only a one-division move up or down from either boxer to make the match. Finally, in 2022, 18 years after Khan won the hearts of a nation by taking home a silver medal from the 2012 Olympics, it’s happening.
The fight won’t determine who’s the better man of the two because the best version of each warrior no longer exists. Khan is 34, Brook 35.
We can only imagine this engagement happening immediately following Brook’s narrow win over Shawn Porter in 2014 or after Khan was handing out schoolings to Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander the same year.
In 2016 both men chose to be bounced around the ring by middleweights rather than taking on each other. Khan’s knockout loss to Canelo Alvarez was sickening, while Brook suffered damage to his eye socket against Gennadiy Golovkin that also troubled him in a loss to Errol Spence Jr.
Both men bolstered their finances in these fights but the damage done relegated them to gatekeeper status. Then, when both of them were stopped by Terence Crawford, any potential fight between Khan and Brook appeared to lose its appeal. Or did it?
Perhaps because of their name recognition and constant bickering over the years, some people aren’t ready to give up on it just yet.
At the press conference to formally announce the fight, Khan and Brook teased each other on a variety of subjects, including who performed better against Crawford. And based on the reaction of fans afterward, it’s obvious that this is a contest people are eager to see.
A tense head-to-head followed by multiple teasers have given this fight considerable weight. Shalom and Sky Sports deserve huge credit for that. The fight probably will deliver on many fronts. It will do a solid buy rate, it will provide boxing fans with a memorable night and it will close the book on a lingering rivalry.
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