Boxing News 02 December 2021

AMIR KHAN and Kell Brook have all but admitted that the end is nigh by agreeing to fight each other next year. If their bodies get through training camp, both fighters will be 35 when they collide inside the Manchester Arena on February 19. It’s a contest that has been in the making for many years. In truth, too many. The contest made sense for a long time. Never more so than in 2015, when they were close to their peaks and the top of a talent-laden welterweight division. Back then, Wembley Stadium would have been an appropriate venue for the clash. Brook was eager for the bout. Khan, who had been busy chasing Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, openly admitted he instead wanted a bigger fight, and a bigger challenge,…

PUTTING on a small hall boxing show is not the problem, it’s matching the fighters that’s the hard part. On the one hand I want to make the right fights for my fighters, those kids who have not seen any action for so long because of the pandemic. But I also have a duty to the fans attending, to actually make the fights good to watch. At the moment, and I think I can speak for most small hall promoters, the quality simply isn’t good enough because there aren’t enough good opponents available. Last week, for a show I was promoting in Newark, I started out with seven fights. It ended going ahead with just three. Two fighters dropped out with injury and medical issues. Then another two fights had to…

SO Amir Khan and Kell Brook have decided to box each other. The question, at this stage, has to simply be, why? This fight makes no sense. Both men are long past their primes, both men have suffered nasty defeats in their careers, both men have earned large purses, both men are seemingly rich. Again, why? This does not prove who would have won in their prime or who really is the 'cock of the north'. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought each other for a final time late in their careers. Because both men had lost some motor skills, the match was an incredible dog fight. But at what cost in the long term? Both Brook and Khan have taken too much punishment already in some high profile fights. There…

KHAN-BROOK, IS BETTER LATE THAN NEVER OR BETTER NEVER THAN TOO LATE? Jon Thaxton British and EBU champion I’m glad it’s happening. Better late than never. I don’t think it’ll have the same impact which it would have had if it was say, 10 years ago. It’s a fascinating fight. It’s a case of who’s got more left and I think it’ll be Kell Brook to win. Darren Barker Former IBF belt-holder I would rather see these fights happen when fighters are in their prime. I would have much rather seen this fight a few years ago when it really meant something. It’s finally settling a score but what does it really matter? Paul Smith Two-time British champion I’m torn. It’s a fight that I always wanted to see. Both fighters are past their best and I think it’s…

1 BROOK VS SHAWN PORTER Despite his potential, few expected Brook to go to America and usurp undefeated IBF welterweight belt-holder Porter in 2015, but that is exactly what he did. Going in, Porter had beaten Malignaggi and Alexander and was one of the new stars of American boxing. 2 KHAN VS MARCOS MAIDANA In perhaps the best fight on this list, Maidana hauled himself up from a first-round knockdown to push Khan every step of the way in 2010. Following a grandstand finish, Khan held on to take a hard-earned decision win. 3 KHAN VS DEVON ALEXANDER Easily the standout win of Khan’s ‘second phase’, a 12-round drubbing of Alexander in 2014 hinted at what could be achieved as a welterweight, having made his name in the weight class below. 4 KHAN VS ANDREAS KOTELNIK Khan’s…

IT was snowing the morning that Dick Turpin finally got a blue plaque in the street where he was born. The other Turpin boy, Randy, has had a magnificent statue for 20 years, it stands just a few minutes away from the new blue plaque. It is majestic. At last, Randy’s big brother has recognition for what he achieved in 1948 when he won the British middleweight title. That was Dick’s 91st fight and it smashed the colour bar. It was outdoors at Villa Park; it went the full 15 rounds and was watched by more than 40,000 people. It was an event, not something hidden on a private show at a sporting club for men smoking cigars and sitting on their hands. Dick and Randy, the Turpin boys from Warwick, are true…