If Amir Khan is attempting to set a world record for the amount of people he can infuriate in the short span of a week, he could have his own personal Guinness World Record. Once again, Khan has managed to tick off boxing fans and even some of his own fans have voiced their displeasure at the WBC Silver welterweight champion’s actions.
It all began when IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook voiced his intentions at landing a fight with Amir Khan, but instead of a fight developing inside the ring, it has developed into quite the saga.
Given how much Khan has talked in the past week, it seems like his offer to actually fight Kell Brook was three years ago. However, things have changed greatly since last week.
“Kell Brook, if you want to take the fight, winner takes all. I’m up or it because I know I’ll take everything because I’ll beat you. So let’s do it, man,” said Khan.
Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn spoke with Sky Sports, adding that he didn’t believe Khan was being genuine.
“Kell is a world champion now and his stock is rising day by day. Interestingly, I don’t think Amir Khan will fight any of the names mentioned apart from maybe Chris Algieri,” stated Hearn.
Hearn was right for a couple of days. On April 2, Khan announced on his wife’s YouTube channel that his next opponent would be Chris Algieri, only to be forced to backtrack a mere days later because the fight had not been finalized yet.
Around that same time period, Amir Khan accused Kell Brook of only wanting to fight him because he is afraid of fighting top fighters in the welterweight division. That gave many people the impression that he didn’t see himself as a top-tier fighter.
At some point, Amir Khan was offered to fight former WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley in an IBF eliminator fight. Khan said he was never offered the fight, but the IBF said that the Khan camp turned the fight down.
Just when you thought the saga couldn’t possibly have another sequel, lo and behold, Amir Khan managed to get the job done again in an interview with FightHype.com when he took a slap at Kell Brook’s financial success in the sport.
“If this Algieri fight happens it’s making me a lot of money; money that Kell Brook’s never seen. That’s why he’s probably dying. Amir’s making millions when he’s never seen his first million.”
Just for the record, Amir Khan made just over $650K fighting Devon Alexander in December 2014. Khan also added that he will make plenty of money with or without Kell Brook.
“Do I need the fight against Kell Brook? I will make a lot of money in this sport, and I’ve made a lot of money in the sport of boxing. Kell Brook needs me to make that big money. Without me, he’ll never make that big money,” Khan added. “Even if we get beat by him, we still make a lot of money.”
This isn’t the first time Amir Khan has ducked Kell Brook. In February 2014, Khan was offered $8 million and still said no. If Khan believes he will still make a lot of money even with a loss against Brook, why not fight him anyway if it doesn’t matter?
Amir Khan has become the Aunt Sally of boxing and it’s his own doing – he has continued to open his mouth unnecessarily even after the Algieri embarrassment and untruthfully stating that an IBF eliminator fight with Timothy Bradley fight was never offered to him. Which it was according to the IBF, after all – and will probably do something else to make people incensed at some point in the next 24 hours.
I do not know how many times I have to say this. The man needs a well-trained, responsible PR correspondent. It’s very late, but it’s better late than never.
