Amir Khan vs Kell Brook: A fight worth more than belts and bank balance

Once in a while, a big fight comes along that is not about belts.

Nor is it about the future or a five-year plan. It’s not about the best of the best or a hyperbolic scream of, ‘The O must go!’

Sometimes, it’s about something that lasts a lot longer than precious metal or noughts on a bank balance.

A fight that is about validation for everything that has gone before, good and bad, beautiful and brutal. A win that will warm cold nights long after bright lights have faded.

A well-worn story that will either thrill the grandchildren or remain unspoken because it upsets grandad.

When that first bell goes at the Manchester Arena tomorrow night, and Amir Khan speeds his way into his first exchange with Kell Brook, there will be no thoughts of the road ahead or next steps. There will just be this. Nothing else.

The great boxing broadcaster, journalist and Hawaiian shirt expert Steve Bunce asked himself a simple question.

He even scrawled it down on a piece of paper. It read: ‘Who is fading faster, Brook or Khan?’ And it was a valid question, when he wrote it in 2018.

Here we are, four years later and it’s finally happening, 70 years on earth between them.

Both say that they have never had a better training camp. Both say they feel reborn. Both say they are in great shape. Both would say that, though, wouldn’t they?

In reality, it’s a fight that requires a sniff test, like a pint of milk that has been sitting in the fridge for a few cuppas too long. It’s on the turn, but is it good for one last brew?

Tony Bellew, my favourite Everton fan, told DAZN: ‘I just don’t know what Kell’s got left, and I know for a fact Amir has looked after himself better physically, that’s a fact.

‘Away from camp, it’s Amir who is living the cleaner life and I