Amir Khan 34-5 (21) is convinced he has enough left in the tank to defeat Kell Brook 39-3 (27) at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England on February 19.
The 35-year-old from Bolton has been training for the bout in the United States under Brian ‘Bo-Mac’ McIntyre, who is also the coach of undefeated three-weight world champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford 38-0 (29).
The Khan-Brook fight has long been discussed but never came to fruition until now with both boxers at the tail-end of their careers.
“I’m more confident. The way I’ve gone into training camp, and had a few sparring rounds with Crawford, and my sparring work and pad work with Bo-Mac and everyone, it’s back,” Khan told Sky Sports.
“I feel like when I was 25, 26, and at the peak of my career. I can’t see Kell Brook beating me. I’m a better skilled fighter, I’ve been in there with better opposition, but look, come fight night, it’s time to show my skills off.
“I’m just going to keep calm, I’m not going to think too much or get over confident, because at the end of the day you can’t get too confident about this because one punch can change a fight.
“I know what I’m doing. I’ve been in this position before. It’s all about staying focused and just sticking to your game plan.
“This talk about Kell Brook has been going on for so many years and I think it’s a good time for me now to put it to a stop and show who the better fighter is. I know Kell thinks he’s the better fighter, but time will tell come Feb 19th.”
Coach McIntyre believes Khan can handle Brook as easily as WBO welterweight champion Crawford did. Crawford stopped Brook in four frames in November 2020.
“Oh yeah, I believe he can. After seeing what Crawford did to Kell, I believe that Amir can do the same thing,” McIntyre said to Sky Sports.
“The thing is you want to teach them all the way round, make sure he has it in the bank, just in case he’s got to go and cash that check. That’s what we say in America, it’s in the bank, it’s in the memory bank. So if Kell Brook does try to stay on top of him and does have the fight on his side, he’s already ready for it, because he’s trained for it during camp and I won’t have to say anything new to him in the corner because we’ve already worked on it.
Khan has been training at high altitude to prepare himself for the bout.
“We’re up here in Colorado Springs, at about 6,500 feet high in terms of altitude, and I think this altitude training helps especially when it gets to the later rounds in a fight,” Khan said.
“It’s tough, obviously the air is a lot thinner when you’re in the ring and on the pads, but it’s only my first week here and hopefully I’ll get used to it and by the time it comes to fight night, I’ll be ready for the full 12 rounds. Kell is the only thing on my mind. This fight is such a big fight for me.
“It just shows the interest. First of all, it’s amazing we’ve got it on Sky, but then to have the fight in Manchester which is quite local to me and Kell, makes the fight even bigger. I’m really looking forward to it. I just want to put in a good performance and this is a big fight for me where I’m going to show what I’ve got.”
