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Amir Khan vs. Kell Brook British Grudge
Match Set For Feb. 19 On ESPN+
The long-simmering rivalry between British superstars Amir
Khan and Kell Brook will finally come to a head in a
149-pound catchweight battle Saturday, Feb. 19, at AO Arena
in Manchester, England. Roughly 20,000 fans will be in
attendance for this British super fight for the ages, which
sold out in 10 minutes when tickets went on sale in
December.
Promoted by BOXXER, Khan vs. Brook and select undercard
fights will stream live and exclusively in the United States
on ESPN+.
“Kell Brook versus Amir Khan is a fight that has sparked
international interest,” said BOXXER CEO Ben Shalom. “This
legacy-defining fight between the UK superstars, who have
been world champions on American soil, now meet in a final
showdown at AO Arena in one of the most eagerly anticipated
fights in UK history.”
"I think Kell Brook is very bitter, and this is a good time
for me to put the issue straight between us because he has
always thought he is the better fighter than me," Khan told
Sky Sports. "He's always said he should have had the
recognition that I had and believes that should have been
him. But at the end of the day, my skills made me the name I
am today.”
In a recent interview with Sky Sports, Brook said: "This is
a real grudge match, there's no love lost in this fight and
we both don't like each other. The fans and the pundits
can't split us, and that shows how even this fight is going
to be."
The 35-year-old Khan (34-5, 21 KOs), from Bolton, England,
has been in the spotlight since the 2004 Summer Olympics in
Athens, when he took home a silver medal as a 17-year-old
prodigy. As a pro, Khan unified world titles at junior
welterweight and fought myriad top names, including Marco
Antonio Barrera, Danny Garcia, Marcos Maidana, Paulie
Malignaggi, Canelo Alvarez, and Zab Judah. He last fought in
July 2019, knocking out former featherweight world champion
Billy Dib in four rounds.
Brook (39-3, 27 KOs), a former British champion from
Sheffield, England, made three successful defenses of the
IBF welterweight world title he won from Shawn Porter in
August 2014. His bold 2016 challenge of middleweight
champion Gennadiy Golovkin ended in a fifth-round knockout
defeat. He then lost his welterweight title to Errol Spence
Jr. via 11th-round knockout the following May. Brook won
three consecutive fights before challenging WBO welterweight
champion Terence Crawford in November 2020. Brook led on two
scorecards before being knocked out in the fourth round.
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