Kell Brook Retires from Boxing
Former IBF welterweight champion Kell “Special K” Brook (40-3, 28KOs) is finally walking away from boxing after getting the most gratifying victory of his career over Amir Khan. According to United Kingdom’s The Telegraph, Special K has announced his retirement from boxing.
“I’ll never box again. My heart is no longer in it. I’ve nothing left to prove.”
Kell Brook, former world welterweight champion
A LOOK BACK AT HIS CAREER
Brook first became a champion after defeating two-time champion and fellow retiree “Showtime” Shawn Porter back in 2014. In 2016, he took on a huge challenge moving up two-weight divisions to middleweight, taking on unified champion Gennadiy Golovkin. Several boxing enthusiasts mark this moment as the beginning of the end for Brook as he suffered a broken orbital bone in the right eye and was never quite the same.
In 2017, Special K had to defend the title against Errol “The Truth” Spence. Here he would suffer another bad orbital bone injury on the left eye before the fight ended in the eleventh round. He racked up three victories over subpar opponents before losing a fourth-round stoppage against WBO champion Terence “Bud” Crawford in 2020. Brook looked like a shell of himself, and leaving the sport had to have been on his mind.
ONE LAST CHANCE FOR GLORY
The one fight that kept him going was against arch-nemesis former unified junior welterweight champion Amir Khan. It was the fight Brook had wanted his whole life. The two men’s’ rivalry cut deep for the former welterweight champion as Khan always looked down on and was extremely dismissive of him.
Brook stepped into a time machine and fought like a younger version of himself, releasing years of anguish and frustration on his mortal enemy. He was on a search and destroy mission, landing powerful punches throughout the fight, and he erased all the downward spirals of his career with a sixth-round stoppage.
What made this even sweeter of a victory was that it happened in front of a raucous crowd at the Manchester Arena. It now appears this would be the last page in the book of Kell Brook’s professional boxing career. He is going out on the highest of high notes that most fighters dream of by getting that monkey off his back in a high-profile fight against a rival.
3Kings Boxing extends a thanks to Kell Brook for the memories and wishes him good luck with life after boxing.
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By: Garrisson Bland
