Fight Week: Amir Khan and Kell Brook finally will collide; Jaime Munguia returns

Fight Week: Amir Khan and Kell Brook finally will collide; Jaime Munguia returns.

FIGHT WEEK

Amir Khan and Kell Brook finally meet Saturday in England. Also, unbeaten middleweight contender Jaime Mungia faces D’Mitrius Ballard in Tijuana, Mexico.

Amir Khan (34-5, 21 KOs) vs. Kell Brook (39-3, 27 KOs)

When: Saturday, Feb. 19
Time: 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT (main event later in show)
Where: AO Arena, Manchester, England
TV/Stream: ESPN+ (pay-per-view in U.K.)
Division: Welterweight
Rounds: 12
At stake: No titles
Pound-for-pound ranking: None
Odds: Brook 1½-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
Also on the card: Natasha Jonas vs. Chris Namus, junior middleweights (for vacant WBO title); Charlie Schofield vs. Germaine Brown, super middleweights
Prediction: Brook KO 8
Background: Finally. Khan and Brook, two of the best British fighters of that past few decades, have spoken about fighting for another for almost as long. They’ll meet at long last near the ends of their careers. Khan is a former junior welterweight titleholder known for his quickness and weak chin, which has failed him in four of his five losses. He was stopped by Breidis Prescott, Danny Garcia, Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford. He has a strong resume – with victories over Marco Antonio Barrera, Paulie Malignaggi, Marcos Maidana, Zab Judah, Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander – but he hasn’t had a significant victory since he outpointed Chris Algieri in 2015. The 35-year-old from Bolton is coming off a fourth-round knockout of veteran Billy Dib in July 2019, which means he will have been out of the ring for more than 2½ years. Brook, also 35, was a borderline pound-for-pounder when he outpointed Shawn Porter to win a major welterweight title in 2014 and made three successful defenses. However, that was followed by back-to-back knockout losses to Gennadiy Golovkin at middleweight and Errol Spence Jr. back at welterweight in 2016 and 2017, after which he was never the same. He last fought in November 2020, when Crawford stopped him in four rounds.

Jaime Munguia (38-0, 30 KOs) vs. D’Mitrius Ballard (21-0-1, 13 KOs)

When: Saturday, Feb. 19
Time: 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT (main event later in show)
Where: Plaza Monumental, Tijuana
TV/Stream: DAZN
Division: Middleweight
Rounds: 12
At stake: No titles
Pound-for-pound ranking: None
Odds: NA
Also on the card: William Zepeda vs. Luis Viedas, lightweights; Rafael Espinoza vs. Alie Laurel, featherweights
Prediction: Munguia KO 9
Background: Munguia, the former junior middleweight beltholder, is marching steadily toward a shot at a middleweight championship. The 25-year-old Mexican won his 154-pound title by stopping Sadam Ali in 2018 and making five successful defense before moving up to 160, at which he’s 4-0 against good opposition. He’s coming off a wide-decision victory over veteran Gabriel Rosado this past November. He’ll be fighting in his hometown for the first time since 2017. Ballard, 28, is a solid opponent. The product of the Washington, D.C. area was an amateur standout who fought in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, turning pro the following year. He’s unbeaten as a pro – with only a draw against Yamaguchi Falcao in 2019 – but has never faced an opponent the caliber of Munguia as a professional. Ballard is coming off a one-sided unanimous 10-round decision over Paul Valenzuela Jr. on the Munguia-Rosado card. He has fought outside the United States only once, in Canada in 2016.

Also fighting this weekend: Lightweight prospect Jamaine Ortiz (14-0-1, 8 KOs) will face Nahir Albright (14-1, 7 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round bout Friday in Orlando, Florida, on Showtime. Also, Saturday in Ekaterina, Russia, former three-division titleholder Jorge Linares (47-6, 29 KOs) will take on Zaur Abdullaev (14-1, 8 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round fight.

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Fight Week: Amir Khan and Kell Brook finally will collide; Jaime Munguia returns

Fight Week: Amir Khan and Kell Brook finally will collide; Jaime Munguia returns.

FIGHT WEEK

Amir Khan and Kell Brook finally meet Saturday in England. Also, unbeaten middleweight contender Jaime Mungia faces D’Mitrius Ballard in Tijuana, Mexico.

Amir Khan (34-5, 21 KOs) vs. Kell Brook (39-3, 27 KOs)

When: Saturday, Feb. 19
Time: 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT (main event later in show)
Where: AO Arena, Manchester, England
TV/Stream: ESPN+ (pay-per-view in U.K.)
Division: Welterweight
Rounds: 12
At stake: No titles
Pound-for-pound ranking: None
Odds: Brook 1½-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
Also on the card: Natasha Jonas vs. Chris Namus, junior middleweights (for vacant WBO title); Charlie Schofield vs. Germaine Brown, super middleweights
Prediction: Brook KO 8
Background: Finally. Khan and Brook, two of the best British fighters of that past few decades, have spoken about fighting for another for almost as long. They’ll meet at long last near the ends of their careers. Khan is a former junior welterweight titleholder known for his quickness and weak chin, which has failed him in four of his five losses. He was stopped by Breidis Prescott, Danny Garcia, Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford. He has a strong resume – with victories over Marco Antonio Barrera, Paulie Malignaggi, Marcos Maidana, Zab Judah, Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander – but he hasn’t had a significant victory since he outpointed Chris Algieri in 2015. The 35-year-old from Bolton is coming off a fourth-round knockout of veteran Billy Dib in July 2019, which means he will have been out of the ring for more than 2½ years. Brook, also 35, was a borderline pound-for-pounder when he outpointed Shawn Porter to win a major welterweight title in 2014 and made three successful defenses. However, that was followed by back-to-back knockout losses to Gennadiy Golovkin at middleweight and Errol Spence Jr. back at welterweight in 2016 and 2017, after which he was never the same. He last fought in November 2020, when Crawford stopped him in four rounds.

Jaime Munguia (38-0, 30 KOs) vs. D’Mitrius Ballard (21-0-1, 13 KOs)

When: Saturday, Feb. 19
Time: 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT (main event later in show)
Where: Plaza Monumental, Tijuana
TV/Stream: DAZN
Division: Middleweight
Rounds: 12
At stake: No titles
Pound-for-pound ranking: None
Odds: NA
Also on the card: William Zepeda vs. Luis Viedas, lightweights; Rafael Espinoza vs. Alie Laurel, featherweights
Prediction: Munguia KO 9
Background: Munguia, the former junior middleweight beltholder, is marching steadily toward a shot at a middleweight championship. The 25-year-old Mexican won his 154-pound title by stopping Sadam Ali in 2018 and making five successful defense before moving up to 160, at which he’s 4-0 against good opposition. He’s coming off a wide-decision victory over veteran Gabriel Rosado this past November. He’ll be fighting in his hometown for the first time since 2017. Ballard, 28, is a solid opponent. The product of the Washington, D.C. area was an amateur standout who fought in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, turning pro the following year. He’s unbeaten as a pro – with only a draw against Yamaguchi Falcao in 2019 – but has never faced an opponent the caliber of Munguia as a professional. Ballard is coming off a one-sided unanimous 10-round decision over Paul Valenzuela Jr. on the Munguia-Rosado card. He has fought outside the United States only once, in Canada in 2016.

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Amir Khan vs. Kell Brook: Is late really better than never?

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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