The lives of Kell Brook and Amir Khan had been intertwined for almost 12 years before ‘Special K’ delivered on a career-long promise and gave his rival ‘a right good hiding’.
Brook capped a wonderful career in boxing by dominating Khan in February 2022 in Manchester, riding off into the sunset and retiring three months later. In April this year, their fight was under the spotlight again after Khan was handed a two-year ban from all sport after testing positive for banned substance ostarine following that grudge match.
Khan had himself retired from the sport by that point but his reputation was on the line and was adamant he had not intentionally taken any banned substance. Brook was understandably furious in the immediate aftermath, admitting the revelation ‘made him sick’.
Four months on from the scandal, Brook is more sympathetic and says he now believes his old foe never intentionally set out to cheat against him.
‘It is still a weird situation for me,’ Brook told Metro.co.uk via FreeBets Ireland. ‘If the fight result were different, there would be a lot more attention around it, if he had given me the beating. Because then you start looking at things differently.
‘It is a sport where you can legally get killed. You are walking into the ring with loaded guns in your hands, you can kill a man. But I do believe he didn’t know anything about it. I do believe what he is saying is true.
‘He got tested like I got tested a lot of times in the build-up to that fight. Listening to people who know a little bit more about that kind of thing, it just doesn’t make sense that he would do that intentionally.
‘There has always been respect from my side towards Amir, he’s done unbelievable in this game. What used to upset me at the time, I guess, was I always knew I had his number but it was him stopping it and making me look like the mug who didn’t want it.
‘He’s done great things for the sport so of course I have respect for him like anyone else who gets in that ring. We both got out unhurt which is the most important thing.’
Having hung up his gloves, Brook was left to contend with the harsh and testing realities of retirement having been institutionalised by the sport for 18 years. There were dark moments, admitting earlier this year he was struggling with his mental health and was actively seeking help ‘to get me on the right path again’ after he was filmed snorting a white powder.
The 37-year-old has come out the other side and is content with life away from the ring.
‘I needed a bit of time to find myself but now I’m absolutely flying,’ he said.
‘For so long, my life revolved around the gym, dieting, going to bed early. Preparation, preparation for a fight. But the phone is not ringing for that anymore. So it’s just about being there for my family my kids, being in the moment in life. I had to adapt a little bit, you know. But all is good.’
As with any fighter to have walked away however, the temptation to come back for once last dance has been there. Fights against Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Smith have been discussed over the last six months while a ringside scuffle with Conor Benn in April has fuelled talk of a clash between the former welterweight champion and the young challenger.
With hype building towards Terence Crawford vs Errol Spence Jr at the end of the month – one of the biggest fights in the sport with Brook a former opponent of both men – those familiar feelings begin to surface with the Sheffield fighter.
‘Watching these fights build up… it still gives me the itch,’ Brook said. ‘It still does that to me. I have done it for 28 years. As time settles down, I’m enjoying being able to watch the stars preparing and getting ready for fights instead of looking at it and thinking, “let me fight him”. I’m letting other lads do what they need to do now.’
Brook remains happily retired and has no interest in being dragged down by some of boxing’s endless complications. But the Sheffield fighter won’t rule out one last big night under the lights, with the chance to silence Benn a compelling thought.
‘Even if a fighter has been retired 10, 15 years they will feel they are still able to come back for one more,’ Brook said. ‘It is still fresh for me, I’m still moving away from being an active fighter but I’m still there and ready to listen if there is a name that excites me and gets in the gym. Time will tell whether than comes along.
‘There is always drama in boxing and he [Benn] is a fighter I could get excited about. The attention he has had over the past year, that is a big fight, one that that would get me to push on in the gym. That fight would get me excited for a comeback.
‘But it is always complicated in boxing, There are so many things you don’t even hear about in making a fight like that happen and to be honest, I’m tired of all that kind of thing.
‘But those kind of fights interest me, names like Benn, Liam Smith and Chris Eubank Jr, these names would get me fuelled up again.’
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