Amir Khan Admits He Previously Avoided Kell Brook, Now Open To The Fight
Amir Khan says he purposefully avoided a fight with Kell Brook in order to teach his domestic rival a lesson.
In 2014, Brook dethroned Shawn Porter and it finally seemed like a fight with Khan was destined to happen. However, that fight is yet to come to fruition and at this point the bout is well past its sell by date with both men past their fighting primes.
During a recent appearance on The Last Stand podcast, Khan explained that his desire to fight in America was one of the main reasons a fight with Brook didn’t happen.
“The reason me and Brook never happened when we were both champions was because I was campaigning more in America. It’s probably one of the best moves I ever made in my career – to go to America. It gave me a global stance, it made me a global name. When Kell wanted that fight, I knew it was only gonna be a big fight in the UK. So I thought, ‘Okay fine, we’ll do it, but not just yet.’ I was chasing the Floyd Mayweathers and Manny Pacquiaos. And also, I was making more money in America to be honest with you, that’s why. It’s a business a the end of the day. So that’s a reason the fight didn’t happen.
Khan also explained that he wanted to teach Brook a lesson and believed the best way of doing that was by not fighting him to avoiding giving his rival a payday.
“Plus at the same time, with all the negative things he was saying, the badmouthing he was doing, I kinda wanted to teach him a lesson a bit as well. He needed me more than I needed him, so that’s one of the reasons as well.When someone’s gonna talk so much trash, you’re gonna try to teach them a lesson. You wanna hurt them in that way. The way I thought would hurt him would be by not fighting him.”
The former two-weight world champion insists there’s “definitely” still interest in a fight between him and Brook.
“We’re both British and Kell always runs his mouth – I think a lot of people wanna see me just shut his mouth up,” Khan said. “He’s always said he has the style to beat me and my speed of hand is not there anymore. He’s always got something to say, so I thought, ‘You know what? Maybe it’s time to kind of put this guy in his place. One thing about the UK fans, they’d love to tune in. With this fight, we’ve got big fanbases. When there’s drama involved and there’s a bit of a story behind it, it’s only gonna sell even bigger.” (Transcribed by TalkSPORT)
Do you still want to see Amir Khan vs. Kell Brook?
