Did Khan duck Brook:

[Crease]

Just the question - it needs to be asked, especially after the decisive outcome of the bout:
Did Amir spend years avoiding a fight with Kell Brook?

[thenamesnevers]

I don't think he ducked Brook. The crazy f*****r got in there with Canelo! I believe Khan just followed the money train and big fights in America. Khan didn't need Brook.

Brook then did similar by chasing the big fights.

[Crease]

I think there is/was an element of avoiding Kell...

Kell is a natural bigger guy, he had been from the amateur days and Khan knew that. Maybe he thought it was high-risk too low a reward.

[Riddick Bowie]

He ducked Thaxton, Romanov, Murray and Brook.

Why was he never British champ? Because Thaxton could punch. Why was he never European champ? Because Romanov could punch. He took on non-puncher Limond for Commonwealth and still nearly got KOd!

Rather than fight for the Euro title he fought for some WBO international belt against a light hitting Dane.

He also ducked rematches with Prescott and Garcia.

He was a brave man in the ring but he avoided plenty of opponents. Taking on Canelo -- an insane move -- does not cancel out all the ducking and diving he did.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Rather than fight for the Euro title he fought for some WBO international belt against a light hitting Dane.

Let's not forget he was with Frank W after all.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I think there is/was an element of avoiding Kell...

Kell is a natural bigger guy, he had been from the amateur days and Khan knew that. Maybe he thought it was high-risk too low a reward.

Yeh, Kell was always the bigger guy. Khan started at 135 didn't he? Brook started at 145, went as low as 137 in 2005, but was then 147+ after that,.

Khan was basically maximising his boxing profits as much as he could before fighting him. Call it a duck, whatever really.

He would have probably fought Brook in the 3rd Matchroom fight, but then he was offered Crawford.

Had he fought Book instead and lost, he then wouldn't have been offered the Crawford fight after that. So he took the Crawford fight for $3-5m knowing the Brook fight will still be there.

Prize-fighter's aren't they?

Is it a shame they never fought earlier in their primes, of course, do I blame Khan, na.. He can do what he likes.

[a force]

Yes of course he did. He didn’t duck him because he was scared of fighting him. He ducked him because he knew that Kell knocking him out would kill off his chances of getting big pay days in the states against the likes of Canelo & Crawford.

His mindset was ‘there’s a good chance I lose to Brook so I’ll keep putting it off & fight him at the end of my career as the pay day will always be there’.

I don’t like it as I like to see the big fights when they should happen but from a business point of view Khan played it perfectly.

[ewenhay]

Yes of course he did. He didn’t duck him because he was scared of fighting him. He ducked him because he knew that Kell knocking him out would kill off his chances of getting big pay days in the states against the likes of Canelo & Crawford.

His mindset was ‘there’s a good chance I lose to Brook so I’ll keep putting it off & fight him at the end of my career as the pay day will always be there’.

I don’t like it as I like to see the big fights when they should happen but from a business point of view Khan played it perfectly.

Spot on

[Boxerbeetle]

Yep Khan definitely ducked Brook. As I said on the RBR thread, Kell was just completely wrong for him - hard hitting, but most importantly, accurate and with great timing. That’s always an absolute nightmare combination for the insanely chinny Khan, as the fight proved. If the fight had happened earlier in their careers (and Brook was allowed to wear puncher’s gloves ), it might have been a re-run of the Prescott fight.

[jimmystone]

Yes of course he did. He didn’t duck him because he was scared of fighting him. He ducked him because he knew that Kell knocking him out would kill off his chances of getting big pay days in the states against the likes of Canelo & Crawford.

His mindset was ‘there’s a good chance I lose to Brook so I’ll keep putting it off & fight him at the end of my career as the pay day will always be there’.

I don’t like it as I like to see the big fights when they should happen but from a business point of view Khan played it perfectly.

Spot on

x2 that's how I see it too.

Similar to Hatton with Witter. Witter would have almost certainly beaten Hatton.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Yes of course he did. He didn’t duck him because he was scared of fighting him. He ducked him because he knew that Kell knocking him out would kill off his chances of getting big pay days in the states against the likes of Canelo & Crawford.

His mindset was ‘there’s a good chance I lose to Brook so I’ll keep putting it off & fight him at the end of my career as the pay day will always be there’.

I don’t like it as I like to see the big fights when they should happen but from a business point of view Khan played it perfectly.

Spot on

x2 that's how I see it too.

Similar to Hatton with Witter. Witter would have almost certainly beaten Hatton.

Unfortunately that one didn’t happen

[Riddick Bowie]

I'm not sure Witter would have beaten Hatton. He had some flashy moves but could go into his shell and didn't really seem to dig deep in any fight.

Would Junior Witter have overcome Kostya Zoo? Na. He would have been intimidated into survival mode and stunk the place out, again.

[margaret thatcher]

agree, hatton wouldve won an ugly frustrating decision over witter

[stujones]

Khan didn't "duck" Brook as such but he knew he couldn't really lose to a British fighter in a high profile fight - would have mean curtains for the bigger money he was making in the states. He practically became an American fighter which meant he could regroup from losses there.

Plus I think the size difference was something that was never really discussed in their primes - it was significant, Khan was always a small Light Welterweight - remembering he won his first world title really cos of the opportunity to fight a FW fighter who wasn't the greatest - he never cited weight making issues as a reason for the Prescott loss and in his prime wasn't the biggest of Light Welters. Whereas I don't think Kell EVER fought as a pro below Welterweight.

So I personally think it is hard to call it this 18 year rivalary - sure it would have been lovely to have seen and given we had two world class fighters at NEAR the same weight class it should have been done. In reality though, whilst never discussed it was a bit like (purely for weight not ability or stage of their career) Michael Gomez fighting Amir Khan - when Amir was a lightweight he used to get criticism for beating overweight Super Feathers (like Gomez, Limond etc).

Utlimately though it was "always there" for Khan if he was staring down last chance saloon - but he was making major money for less reputational damage fighting in the states.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Khan didn't "duck" Brook as such but he knew he couldn't really lose to a British fighter in a high profile fight - would have mean curtains for the bigger money he was making in the states. He practically became an American fighter which meant he could regroup from losses there.

Plus I think the size difference was something that was never really discussed in their primes - it was significant, Khan was always a small Light Welterweight - remembering he won his first world title really cos of the opportunity to fight a FW fighter who wasn't the greatest - he never cited weight making issues as a reason for the Prescott loss and in his prime wasn't the biggest of Light Welters. Whereas I don't think Kell EVER fought as a pro below Welterweight.

So I personally think it is hard to call it this 18 year rivalary - sure it would have been lovely to have seen and given we had two world class fighters at NEAR the same weight class it should have been done. In reality though, whilst never discussed it was a bit like (purely for weight not ability or stage of their career) Michael Gomez fighting Amir Khan - when Amir was a lightweight he used to get criticism for beating overweight Super Feathers (like Gomez, Limond etc).

Utlimately though it was "always there" for Khan if he was staring down last chance saloon - but he was making major money for less reputational damage fighting in the states.

couldn't agree more. 100%

Surprised the size was never mentioned. Kell always said Khan fought at 155 once, but he was always naturally the smaller man. Brook looked like a genuine middleweight when he fought GGG at 160.

Most of Khan's 147 fights, he usually weight between 146-147 - not always bang on 147.

Jus wanted to say, I did look up Kell's resume, one of his 10 pro bouts, he did fight at 137, but we're talking 2005-2006..

[stujones]

Khan didn't "duck" Brook as such but he knew he couldn't really lose to a British fighter in a high profile fight - would have mean curtains for the bigger money he was making in the states. He practically became an American fighter which meant he could regroup from losses there.

Plus I think the size difference was something that was never really discussed in their primes - it was significant, Khan was always a small Light Welterweight - remembering he won his first world title really cos of the opportunity to fight a FW fighter who wasn't the greatest - he never cited weight making issues as a reason for the Prescott loss and in his prime wasn't the biggest of Light Welters. Whereas I don't think Kell EVER fought as a pro below Welterweight.

So I personally think it is hard to call it this 18 year rivalary - sure it would have been lovely to have seen and given we had two world class fighters at NEAR the same weight class it should have been done. In reality though, whilst never discussed it was a bit like (purely for weight not ability or stage of their career) Michael Gomez fighting Amir Khan - when Amir was a lightweight he used to get criticism for beating overweight Super Feathers (like Gomez, Limond etc).

Utlimately though it was "always there" for Khan if he was staring down last chance saloon - but he was making major money for less reputational damage fighting in the states.

couldn't agree more. 100%

Surprised the size was never mentioned. Kell always said Khan fought at 155 once, but he was always naturally the smaller man. Brook looked like a genuine middleweight when he fought GGG at 160.

Most of Khan's 147 fights, he usually weight between 146-147 - not always bang on 147.

Jus wanted to say, I did look up Kell's resume, one of his 10 pro bouts, he did fight at 137, but we're talking 2005-2006..

Yes definitely more should have been made about the weight issues of this "rivalary" at their prime - as for large chunks they were operating at different weights - even when they were both at welter in their own peaks - Khan could possibly / probably boil down to make LIGHTWEIGHT let alone, Light welter. Whereas Brook was already boiling and would have literally chopped a leg off to even think about Light Welter is his prime. Yes he was younger, but he was always dead comfortable making Lightweight and indeed if we remember the talk was him reliquishing the WBA belt to go back down.

Obviously its should have happened having two top top fighters from the same country close in weight meant it needed to happen. But it was apparent the size difference of the two fully rehyrated with their tops off and that was, in hindsight, a bigger issue in terms of it was 50:50 in their prime. Those whiskers of Khan wasn't the best at Light Welter, let alone against a big punching strong welter.

Its a bit like Eubank vs Groves - think the size difference was prerhaps overlooked a tad - but still glad it happened - we missed out on fights like Marsh vs Honeygahn

[Crease]

Similar to Hatton with Witter. Witter would have almost certainly beaten Hatton.

Hatton would have been too much for Junior, but that's a fight I really wanted to see. Especially when they were both World Champions at Light Welter.

[Oiky]

Yes, he did. Because he always new that what was waiting for him last sat was the outcome

Brook was always more vocal about the fight

Khans had all the mouth about how brook is this an that and s**t,the fight would have always made big money,so why else would you wait an wait an wait to sign the deal

Duck job

[bigjack]

Similar to Hatton with Witter. Witter would have almost certainly beaten Hatton.

Hatton would have been too much for Junior, but that's a fight I really wanted to see. Especially when they were both World Champions at Light Welter.

When Witter was on the long unbeaten European run it would have been very interesting imo

[stujones]

Yes of course he did. He didn’t duck him because he was scared of fighting him. He ducked him because he knew that Kell knocking him out would kill off his chances of getting big pay days in the states against the likes of Canelo & Crawford.

His mindset was ‘there’s a good chance I lose to Brook so I’ll keep putting it off & fight him at the end of my career as the pay day will always be there’.

I don’t like it as I like to see the big fights when they should happen but from a business point of view Khan played it perfectly.

Spot on

x2 that's how I see it too.

Similar to Hatton with Witter. Witter would have almost certainly beaten Hatton.

Not similar in the fact that Witter and Hatton were always the same weight. Witter vs Hatton was worse.

This was more like Michael Brodie vs Alex Arthur