Amir Khan and Kell Brook begin negotiations

Negotiations to stage a huge domestic showdown between bitter rivals Amir Khan and Kell Brook are underway, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn tells ESPN. Hearn mentions that there’s still a long way to go before the fight can be made official, but does states that he senses a "real desire from both fighters" to make the fight finally happen.

Brook has actively pursued a fight with Khan for years to no avail, but with Khan taking some shots directly at Brook on social media, the sense is that he might be finally ready to put a deal together.

Hearn says he’s looking at May 2017 as a potential landing spot for the fight, should it become official.

"Kell's value has increased considerably, and there seems to be a real desire from both sides to get it done, but we've been here before.

"It's still early days. We've been further down the road before in terms of negotiations than we are now, and I was confident then. I'm hopeful rather than confident. But when both fighters are calling each other out, it's always a good sign."

Some suggest that Khan might be more receptive to a Brook fight now because of speculation that Brook will have a difficult time hitting the 147lb mark after moving up to challenge Gennady Golovkin at middleweight.

Yet Brook had already announced his intentions of returning to welterweight so that he could defend his IBF world title against mandatory challenger Errol Spence Jr. But if a fight with Khan does materialize, it would obviously be a much bigger money fight, and they could conceivably pay Spence some step-aside money to allow this fight to take place.