‘Biggest fight possible in Britain’: Kell Brook says he would put Amir Khan on the canvas
October 12, 2015
Britain’s newly crowned Boxer of the Year, Kell Brook, said he will knock out Amir Khan when the two fighters meet in a proposed fight next year at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Khan told The National in July that negotiations were underway for a 2016 meeting with Brook at Wembley, but first he told his former amateur sparring partner to “fight a couple of big names first” to “make the fight bigger”.
Brook says Khan is just stalling and said a fight to decide the best of Britain would rival the hype surrounding Carl Froch’s rematch with George Groves at Wembley last year.
“Remember – he told me to go and win a world title and then we would fight. I did that. We haven’t fought,” Brook said.
“If we announced a fight tomorrow we would sell out a stadium in the UK like Froch did against Groves – and that was a global fight.
“It’s the biggest fight possible in Britain and it would be a massive fight worldwide right now. He’s stalling, simple as that. He doesn’t want the fight and I am bored of talking about him now.
“All this talk about it building, it’s just looking for a way out. He’s been knocked out at every weight he’s boxed at, and we both know I’ll knock him out at welterweight, and he knows it.”
Brook is ranked as the world’s best welterweight by Ring Magazine and is No 10 on the pound-for-pound list.
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Brook, 29, from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, said he belongs at the top.
“I am an undefeated world champion, so I deserve to be where I am,” he said.
“It’s not by luck. I went to America and beat Shawn Porter, a guy that was being called a ‘mini Mike Tyson’ and that most people were saying was going to take over from Floyd Mayweather.
“I went to his backyard and ripped his title off him. I’ve then knocked out my two defences, so I belong at the top of the division.”
Brook beat Jo Jo Dan and Frankie Gavin earlier this year, both inside the distance, in his two title defences.
Brook will first defend his IBF Welterweight title in his hometown of Sheffield on October 24 against the Argentine Diego Chaves.
One criticism of Brook has been his choice of opponents, with Porter the only opponent of a high-class calibre.
“When you are the champion, you are there to be shot at,” Brook said of the criticism.
“It doesn’t bother me what people say. I trust the team around me to guide my career in the right direction, I just do the fighting.
“People in boxing know that this is a really tough fight” against Chaves.
“Showtime in the States have bought the TV rights and there are a lot of people that say he is going to beat me, so that shows how competitive this is, but that’s not going to happen though.”
Brook was named the Boxer of the Year at the British Boxing Board of Control awards last month, but said victories in the ring are what interest him the most.
“My only aim is to beat Chaves. I never let myself get carried away with talk about fights down the line, awards or getting into the Hall of Fame, because all of that cannot happen unless I beat Chaves,” he said. “If people give you awards, that’s nice of them, it’s not up to me.
“I am in boxing to win belts and fight the best, that’s all that matters to me.”
After Chaves, Brook says he wants to take on WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley.
“Bradley believes that Chaves is going to beat me, so when I beat Chaves it will be nice to go and beat Tim Bradley. Honestly though, I’ll take on any fighter at 147lbs – I want them all, and I will beat them all,” said Brook
Brook’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has said that his fighter might eventually move up to the middleweight division to take the likes of Canelo Alvarez, Miguel Cotto and Gennady Golovkin.
“Those are all brilliant fights with amazing boxers – that would be so exciting. I want to clean up at welterweight first though,” said Brook. “After I get past Chaves there are some huge bouts at 147lbs that I would love and I want to unify the division. But I am a big welterweight so I can see why people think that I would look to move up the weights.”
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Updated: October 12, 2015 04:00 AM
