Kell Brook: Blame Khan if fight doesn’t happen

With Amir Khan reportedly offered a big money deal to face Terence Crawford on pay-per-view next year, it looks increasingly likely that Khan won’t be finally settling his grudge with longtime press rival Kell Brook.

And Brook says if that fight doesn’t happen, he’s certainly not the one to blame.

From Sky Sports:

“What can I say? I think he’s turned his back completely on the British public, because I’ve bent over backwards just to make it happen. I thought when he joined Matchroom, it was a dead cert that it would happen. He actually looked me dead in the eye at Tony Bellew’s last fight and said ‘we’re going to make the fight’ and he’s not doing it. What can I say? I’ve done everything I can, don’t blame me, it’s him.”

Brook (37-2, 26 KO) takes a tune-up fight on Saturday against Australia’s Michael Zerafa (25-2, 14 KO), a fight he’s expected to win without trouble. Brook-Zerafa streams live on DAZN for U.S. viewers and airs on Sky Sports Main Event in the United Kingdom.

Now, obviously, the reason this fight looks like it’s not going to happen has to be “blamed on” Amir Khan. But Khan is being offered $5 million — reportedly — to fight Terence Crawford for a world title. It’s a bigger international fight. It’s a big-time opportunity.

Khan believes that Brook will still be there no matter what happens against Crawford, and he may well be right. Hell, Khan-Brook could conceivably happen in five, even 10 years. It’s not like we’ve never seen something like that happen. But we’d then probably be talking about two washed-up fighters trying to cash out with a novelty fight, rather than something where either man is close to his prime.

Frankly, Khan-Brook is already not going to be what it could have been a couple years ago. And if it doesn’t happen now — and Khan doesn’t shock the world against Crawford and then fight Brook — it’s never going to be what it could have been at this point.

But that’s how it goes. Khan has a big offer, one he’d probably be foolish to pass up, even facing big odds against a top pound-for-pound fighter. It’s just the way it’s happening.