Kell Brook v Amir Khan: 'Nowhere to run' Sheffield star to finally settle score with rival

After a decade of calling each other out, former WBA and IBF light-welterweight champion Khan, 34, and ex-IBF welterweight champion Brook, 35, will meet in Manchester.

Brook said: “I’m sick of people coming up to me asking me when I’m going to fight him. February 19 is when he hits the deck for the final time.

“He’s never given me respect, acknowledged me. He’s always ran away and it’s come to this part of our career when there’s nowhere else for him to run. It’s been frustrating for me, I’ve wanted this for many years.”

Khan added: “I’ve never ran from him, never needed to, what I’ve achieved in sport speaks for itself, but we’re here now. At the end of the day, the talk he’s been giving, February 19, he needs to back them words up.”

Many will argue the pair are settling scores long past their prime but promoter Ben Shalom, from BOXXER, says the fight still carries weight.

“Khan and Brook are icons of the sport in Britain and this will be an iconic encounter,” he said. “Their rivalry has simmered for years, they are still by far the best welterweights in the country and the eyes of the world will be on them when they square off in February to finally settle the question about which of them is the better man.

“This is a fight every boxing fan has wanted to see for years. It’s the biggest fight in British boxing right now outside of Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury and we’re delighted to be able to deliver this legacy-defining clash live and exclusively on Sky Sports Box Office.”