I’ve always thought Khan wins this - he’s a cut above Brook and has achieved so much more. Brook has only ever had a punchers chance. In their prime, Brook would have had a better chance of winning in my opinion as he still had enough speed to time Khan and land his chocolate brownie, but now I don’t see him having a prayer.
Whilst I’ve always thought Khan wins I think you’re bang on the money here mate. It was well reported in boxing circles that Haye was ****ed - it got leaked to the public on the week of the fight he was having something done in Germany which they managed to suppress and play down. The biggest shock for me was how on earth they managed to get millions in the rematch.
Really I will have to watch the first Haye Bellew fight again but from memory i vaguely recall Bellew was surviving in the first fight until Haye snapped his whatever it was ? The second was joke i knew something wasnt right as soon as i saw him in that stupidly size foul protector.
Brook traded with a prime Golovkin, so Khan ain't stopping him for love or money. And Khan hasn't stopped anyone of note in possibly not far off a decade. Khan's jaw is filled with Waterford Crystal. Brook had a dodgy eye. Both are slow, both are past their physical best, Brook has the better fundamentals and a style which doesn't require as much youth behind it as Khan's does. So I'm picking Brook via TKO.
I wouldn’t go so far to say Bellew was surviving, I think he was just keeping his distance and working out if the rumours had been true about Haye - Bellew never really looked in proper danger as much as I’’d have wanted him to get sparked out. Looking back knowing what we know now, it isn’t conceivable to consider that Bellew just waited for Haye’s body to break.
I still think khan's speed is better than other boxers even those in their prime. At least this won't be boring I hope
I actually re-watched the first fight today, you are correct surviving wasnt the right word but i would absolutely say he was tentative and weary of Haye's power. I also picked up that you could tell he was injured (not as bad as he was for the second fight which IMHO is the biggest disgrace in PPV history of the recent era) he didnt have the same athletisicm and was placing his right foot in weird angles to get leverage in shots, almost like he was dragging it behind him.
According to Shane Mcguigan, Haye went into the Bellew 1 fight carrying an injury to his left Achilles, hence the last minute Germany trip, and he ended up snapping his right achilles mid fight due to overcompensation. It was all caused by those flat, barefoot shoes he'd been training in for months.
Yes definitely, I felt it was as though Bellew thought something might have been wrong with Haye but didn’t want to go for it too much early just in case any remnants of the explosive heavyweight power remained. That said, Haye would have left the sport with glory had he retired there. After the toe excuse, people all questioned Haye’s bottle. This time, Haye had shown he had bottle to fight to the end even with only one foot and getting peppered - he would have left the sport with credit. However, he decided to take one last payday (I don’t exactly blame him - credit and kudos don’t pay the mortgage at the end of the day) which probably soured things.
Totally agree...there was something about how smug hearn and bellew we,re in the lead up to that first fight. Haye had his faults....but haye in any kind of decent physical shape without injury was a massive proposition for bellew and should have been a massive worry to hearn. Instead both turned up looking a bit too relaxed about it. In hindsight...when haye came clesn about his injuries post retirement....it all started to make sense. Pretty sure he had massive injuries to overcome....that kind of stuff usually gets out. Khans looking similarly relaxed considering hes avoided brook for so long. I,ve always fancied brook to win it...but not to the same level a lot of other people think. It was always gonna be a close fight for me. Depends what wins out speed or timing. Always favoured brook in a close fight tho.
By far. I'm not particularly confident in Brook at this point, due to the weight and shopwear, but at the idea of Khan being a "cut above" Kell. Better résumé, sure, but he's been presented with much more opportunity.
He fought the like of Porter when the opportunity arose. (Also jumped up two divisions to secure a defining assignment when the opportunity arose, after bouts with other welters proved elusive, as the guy above me noted.) Guess you missed it the first time.