Kell Brook channelled years of frustration into one of the most polished performances of his career as he stopped bitter rival Amir Khan inside six rounds at Manchester's AO Arena.
Brook has courted a showdown against an opponent he has come to despise for several years only to be constantly rebuffed, but after being given an opportunity here, he grasped it with both hands in this 149lb catchweight bout.
The Yorkshireman shrugged off being vociferously jeered to the ring by a crowd largely in support of Bolton-born and raised Khan and repeatedly left his foe on rubbery legs with countless punishing shots to the head.
Khan refused to buckle and stayed upright throughout but he absorbed some vicious blows and his face was heavily marked when referee Victor Loughlin stepped in to wave off the fight 51 seconds into the sixth round.
“This fight has been a long time coming for me and I’m so happy I won’t get pestered by people saying ‘when are you going to fight Amir Khan?’ I’ve always known that was going to happen,” said a delighted Brook afterwards.
“I’m just frustrated that this fight didn’t happen sooner but it’s better late than never.
“I’ll be remembered for this fight forever. No disrespect to Amir but it felt so easy in there, it was just a matter of time. I’m just happy that the chapter is closed now on Amir Khan.”
Khan, fighting at the venue where he first won a world title in 2009, only showed flashes of the form that saw him become a unified light-welterweight champion more than a decade ago as Brook claimed the bragging rights.
While Brook improved his record to 40 wins from 43 fights, the decorated Khan’s future in the sport is now up in the air after the sixth defeat of his professional career in what was his first outing since July 2019.
Khan, a 2004 Olympic silver medallist, is one of the best British fighters of his era and long suspected he was a class above Brook, who banished the notion and rolled back the years, breathing fresh life into his own career.
A controversy arose about Brook’s gloves shortly before the ring walks but the Sheffield fighter, the IBF welterweight champion between 2014 and 2017, refused to let the issue distract him from the task at hand.
There is a suspicion this meeting between two decorated 35-year-old fighters came much too late in their careers but Brook appeared laser-focused from the off, even if Khan made a decent start with his blurring hand speed.
But Brook, who has had surgery on both eyes to correct broken orbital bones suffered in defeats to Gennady Golovkin and Errol Spence, nicked the first round with a couple of straight lefts that twice buckled Khan’s legs.
The pair, whose enmity occasionally spilled over in a fraught build-up, smiled at each other as the round came to a close, with Brook stalking Khan as he looked for a swift and decisive ending in the first three minutes.
Khan seemed keen to avoid Brook’s right hand and keep the fight at distance. He was able to get in and out of range in the second round with some impressive flurries that have been the trademark of his 17-year professional career.
But a thudding right hand towards the end of the third round left Khan shaken again, with the bell perhaps saving Brook, who made his debut in the paid ranks in September 2004 and whose previous fight before this saw him defeated by Terence Crawford in November 2020.
The pair were setting a frenetic pace in a fevered atmosphere but while Khan was looking to shake off the ring rust, he was once more cornered on the ropes as the fourth round came to a conclusion.
The one-way traffic continued into the fifth as expectations of a closely-contested occasion went out the window and while Khan survived the round, he was soon in trouble at the start of the sixth.
Brook was throwing heavy punches from all angles and with Khan unable to escape the ropes, Loughlin opted to bring a halt to proceedings, as the Yorkshire fighter rushed to his corner to celebrate.
While there has been no lack of cross words between the duo this week and they had to be pulled apart by security at Friday’s weigh-in, Brook and Khan showed respect as they embraced in the ring at the end of a long-standing rivalry.
