As February continues, fans are stoked to see another British domestic dustup more than a decade in the making. In this article, we have our Catchweight Boxing Picks for February 19th’s Contender Fight between Amir Khan and Kell Brook. This will be televised on Sky Sports Main Event and ESPN+ from Manchester, England (AO Arena). Who will be able to win, set up a title shot, and end their opponent’s career?
The betting table below is based on the odds from the very best Vegas boxing betting sites.
The first question boxing spectators ask is just what is the Catchweight Division? It is a division set for fighters just above the Welterweight division right around 149 pounds. The Welterweight limit is 147 pounds and sometimes boxers just cannot make that weight. With two older fighters in this case, the Catchweight just made more sense than it usually does.
The catchweight division is again an excellent catch, if you will, for fighters that cannot make that welterweight upper limit. Both Amir Khan and Kell Brook agreed to this in order to make the upcoming fight on Saturday happen. Brook is still a catchweight boxing favorite as his numbers continue to shorten.
Now, the reality is, this weight is a setup for an eventual Welterweight title shot. The problem is, because of COVID, there are only a handful of welterweights challenging for world title shots. The current welterweight belts are held by Yordenis Ugas (WBA) and Errol Spence Jr. (WBC, IBF). Terrance Crawford is the WBO champion. Errol Spence Jr. and Yordenis Ugas are scheduled to fight in April to tie three of the belts in.
Kell Brook’s biggest problem was inactivity. He did not fight throughout all of 2021 due to COVID issues mostly. The fighter won on injury default against Mark DeLuca just 75 seconds into the seventh round at the end of 2020. So, Brook has not fought for 15 months after fighting twice in 2020 and not fighting at all in 2019. It has been a time of long bouts of inactivity for the 35-year old boxer.
The fighter fights in England and is now training again with Dominic Ingle. The former welterweight world champion has a chance to get one more shot at a title fight. Ingle was Brook’s trainer during much of his success before he lost to the three best fighters in the weight class.
This is where the Boxing Odds debate starts. Naturally, no one quite knows what will happen in this fight because it is boxing after all. The hints at a Brook retirement have not impacted the numbers as Khan has become a bit more of an underdog.
It is understandable why Kell Brook is the favorite. There is no fighter in this weight class that has the power aside from maybe Crawford and Spence Jr. The problem may be twofold. Brook has been a bit rattled by Amir Khan’s relentless taunting. It has caused Brook to fire back. That is typically something he has not resorted to previously.
That being said, Brook has been a bit more quiet about his training. The expectation is to see a more composed and measured fighter at first. Then, the boxer should be able to unleash his arsenal of combinations on Khan. Khan is 39-3 with 27 knockouts for a reason. He can end fighters quickly. At the least, he has fought a bit more often than his counterpart in this upcoming fight.
Training wise, Brook looks ready to get in the ring this second. This is why he is our catchweight boxing picks choice for this fight.
Ahead of the bout this Saturday, the catchweight boxing odds are out and they favor Khan less. Amir Khan has been listed between +140 and +155, while Brook is becoming more of a favorite. Despite a litany of delays and a huge period of inactivity, Khan claims he is in great shape to fight the British fighter that he disrespects heavily. Is a 2 1/2 year hiatus too much for the boxer?
As for the previous history, the fighters just do not like each other. Part of that is probably due to their age. Both are 35-years old and know that time is not on their side. Khan is 34-5 with 21 knockouts but does not deliver the power the same way as Brook. Brook can end a fight at almost any time. Khan often has to set things up or catch an opponent lucky like he did with Billy Dib in 2019 (fourth round TKO).
The problem for Khan is all the mountain training, the boxing rituals, and the sparring do not compare to fighting upper-echelon talent. Brook, even at his age, is still a step up from Billy Dib. As this catchweight fight approaches, all the talk and the bravado goes away the instant he gets struck with a heavy shot.
This could be a hard one for Khan. The longer this fight goes, the more it favors a fighter like Brook. Khan needs to end this early like Crawford did to both of these boxers. Can he do it? That may be questionable.
For catchweight boxing picks, our best bet is still picking Kell Brook for these reasons.
The catchweight boxing odds say take Brook to win the bout on February 19th and take the option for a knockout. Also, the under of 9 1/2 rounds at +100 is looking more attractive by the day.
See below the top Vegas online betting sites, like MyBookie, where you can wager on the best choice(s) for you:
