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Manchester, England – A British boxing rivalry simmering for more than ten years finally came to the boil on Saturday night at the AO Arena, Manchester as Kell ‘Special K’ Brook (40-3, 28 KOs) channeled years of antagonism to stop Amir ‘King’ Khan (34-6, 21 KOs) in the sixth round, the referee stepping in to save Khan from further punishment.
Speaking after the fight Brook said: “I’ve sacrificed so much time to train for this fight, they won’t remember all of my fights they’ll just remember me fighting Amir Khan. No disrespect to Amir, but it felt so easy in there, I’m happy the chapter has closed on Amir Khan now.
“This is the icing on the cake in my career, I can feel at peace knowing I’ve beaten him. Do I want to carry on? I’m going to sit down with my family and consider my future in the sport.
“I would’ve wanted more of a clinical knockout, like how Canelo did. But he’s been fantastic for the sport, he’s a two-time world champion for a reason and I’m just happy that we got to fight.”
The night that fight fans have been waiting for proved its weight in gold as both fighters left everything in the ring on fight night. Brook, the former IBF welterweight champion, applied the pressure from the opening bell as he looked for every opening to hurt Khan.
The action unleashed in the very first round as Brook rocked Khan on his feet multiple times, the crowd reacting with awe as Khan then fought back to land hurtful punches of his own. Towards the end of the third, Brook attacked on the front foot sending Khan into the ropes and hanging on until the end of the bell.
Khan showed guts and resilience through the fifth round to stay on his feet following an onslaught from Brook, but again it was ‘Special K’ who was controlling the distance and the tempo of the fight. The accurate right hand was reaching over the guard of Khan throughout the fight, and it proved to be the difference.