The build-up lasted forever. The fight was short and one-sided.
Kell Brook showed countryman Amir Khan who is the better fighter when they finally met in the ring Saturday at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, dominating and then stopping his rival in the sixth round of a scheduled 12-round 149-pound showdown of 35-year-olds.
Khan was game. He always is. He was also outclassed for five-plus rounds and – with his weak chin on full display — he ultimately couldn’t withstand the pounding Brook dished out.
Brook (40-3, 28 KOs) hadn’t fought since November 2020, when he was knocked out by welterweight titleholder Terence Crawford.
However, the former beltholder from Sheffield showed no ring rust or a lack of confidence. Indeed, he stalked Khan from the opening bell and quickly broke him down.
Khan was having a solid opening round, sticking and moving, when he was hurt by a power jab. He continued to use his feet in an attempt to avoid trouble the rest of the fight – and had some success from the outside — but he couldn’t avoid Brook’s hardest punches.
Just look what it means to @SpecialKBrook 👏👏@Boxxer | #KhanBrook pic.twitter.com/GvkTgSag0D
— Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) February 19, 2022
And when they landed, they did damage. Khan seemed to fight on shaky legs the entire bout.
By Round 5, Khan began to fade badly as Brook landed punishing blows almost at will. The brave Bolton fighter continued to fight back but he couldn’t stem his opponent’s momentum.
Then, moments after the bell to start Round 6, Brook buckled Khan’s knees with a simple jab and then followed with a non-stop onslaught that prompted referee Victor Loughlin to stop the fight 51 seconds into the round.
At that moment, Brook jumped into the arms of one of his trainers and then onto his shoulders, savoring a victory he has long envisioned.
Brook never looked better, although praise should be tempered given Khan’s apparent decline. Still, the winner, after such a sensational victory, is again in a good position to face the elite 147-pounders in lucrative fights.
Khan? The quick-handed 2004 Olympic silver medalist and two-time 140-pound champ might be finished as an elite fighter.
He’s now 3-3 in his last six fights – with all three losses coming by sixth-round knockouts – and hasn’t won a meaningful fight in more than half a decade. And now he has fallen in brutal fashion against his arch rival, which surely is a tremendous disappointment for him.
All Khan (34-6, 21 KOs) can say is that he went down swinging. That’s about all he could accomplish against a good, determined version of Brook.