Kell Brook will NOT be affected by Amir Khan’s mind games when they battle it out this weekend, insists trainer Dominic Ingle… despite his fighter appearing to come off second best in their tense pre-fight Gloves Are Off meeting
- Amir Khan and Kell Brook will finally settle their bitter rivalry on Saturday night
- British boxing fans have demanded a bout between them for close to a decade
- Ahead of the fight, the two rivals recorded a pre-fight Gloves Are Off programme
- Brook appeared to lose his composure at times during the tense encounter
- But trainer Dominic Ingle insists Khan’s mind games will not work on his man
Amir Khan’s mind games will not work on Kell Brook when they collide in Manchester this weekend, says the latter’s trainer Dominic Ingle.
British boxing fans have been desperate for Khan and Brook to settle their long-winded feud for the best part of a decade, and now the two bitter rivals are finally poised to do just that after years of waiting.
On Saturday night they will lock horns in front of over 20,000 fans at Manchester Arena and millions live on Sky Sports Box Office, albeit while no longer at the peak of their powers.
Amir Khan’s mind games will not work on Kell Brook, says the latter’s trainer Dominic Ingle
Regardless, Khan and Brook’s overdue encounter remains an intriguing one, and excitement for the contest ramped up when Sky Sports aired their pre-fight Gloves Are Off programme on Sunday.
Khan appeared to get the better of the verbal exchange, belittling Brook’s achievement of winning a world title in America with an amusingly patronising response which went viral on social media.
However, while he did not watch the Gloves Are Off meeting, Ingle is adamant that Khan’s attempts to derail Brook’s composure will not work.
‘I haven’t watched it,’ the Sheffield man’s trainer told Ring Magazine.
Khan and Brook are finally poised to settle their long-winded feud on Saturday night
‘I think Khan thinks he’ll make Kell lose his composure but he won’t. Mind games don’t really work with Kell. They just don’t.’
Khan and Brook both head into Saturday’s contest in the twilight of their respective careers. The former world champions’ best years are undoubtedly behind them, having slumped to some damaging defeats against the likes of Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin and mutual opponent Terence Crawford in recent years.
Crawford claimed victory over Khan in contentious fashion in April 2019, with the Brit drawing criticism for quitting when he shipped a low blow in round six. His only other outing in the three years which have followed was an exhibition against featherweight Billy Dib a few months later.
Ingle says Khan is wasting his time by trying to derail his fighter’s composure with mind games
Brook, meanwhile, has competed twice in the last two years, albeit suffering a more convincing four-round defeat against Crawford in November 2020. But Ingle believes his superior activity will make the difference.
‘Don’t forget, it’s three years in April since he [Khan] boxed Crawford and he boxed Billy Dib four or six months after that, so he’s actually been out of the ring about two and a half years,’ he added.
‘And when you think his last fight was really an exhibition, and his last proper fight was Crawford nearly three years ago, [or] two months short of three years, whereas Kell’s was a year last November it’s a long time out, and he [Khan] won’t have been in training, he won’t have been ticking over… he might have got himself fit for this.’