Amir Khan thinks Kell Brook is the more vulnerable fighter at this point in their careers.
The British rivals are set to engage each other in a highly-anticipated 12-round welterweight contest Feb. 19 at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
The 35-year-old Khan has had a long and fruitful professional career, including winning titles at 140 pounds at the world class level. But he has also long been the subject of ridicule for having something of a fragile chin, a reputation derived, in part, from highlight-reel knockout losses to the likes of Danny Garcia and Canelo Alvarez.
The Bolton native isn’t so sure that he will not be sturdier than Brook, 35, come fight night.
“I think that’s the one advantage he’s got on me, he thinks,” Khan told BBC’s 5 Live Boxing. “But to be honest with you, I really believe that Kell can’t take a shot. I think his chin is really bad.
“Look I’ve seen him be hurt bad with a jab. I’ve seen him put down his last couple of fights and hurt real badly.”
Khan was referring to the jab that Terence Crawford landed on Brook, in Brook’s last fight in November of 2020 in Las Vegas, that had Brook tottering on his feet, leading the referee to stop the bout in the fourth round of the 12-round welterweight title bout.
That wasn’t the only time that Brook’s durability failed him. Khan also brought up the two occasions on which Brook’s face literally fell apart. Brook suffered a fracture to his right orbital bone at the hands of middleweight Kazakh puncher Gennadiy Golovkin in September of 2016; Brook was stopped in the fifth round. Nearly 10 months later, Brook, upon having surgery, jumped back in the ring to defend his IBF welterweight title against Errol Spence Jr. This time, Brook suffered a fracture to his left orbital bone, en route to getting knocked out by Spence in the 11th round.
“Obviously, them eye sockets, the problem he’s had in previous fights having both eye sockets fractured,” Brook said. “One was against Golovkin, the other one was against Spence.
“I mean look, he’s in a position where he can get hurt real badly.”
Khan (34-5, 21 KOs) freely conceded that his chin has failed him in some of the biggest fights of his career. He pointed out, however, that the Alvarez bout, in which Khan was stopped in the sixth round with a picture-perfect right hand, was held at the middleweight limit, two divisions above his normal weight class in the welterweight ranks; Khan’s fight against Brook (39-3, 27 KOs) is being held at 149 pounds.
“At the end of day, in boxing, if you’re gonna get hit with a shot you’re gonna go down,” Khan said. “Obviously I’ve gone up and down weight divisions, fought big guys like Canelo. You’re gonna get hit. If you get hit by a bigger guy you’re gonna get knocked out.”
