There were times during the annoying negotiations for his long-overdue showdown with Amir Khan when Kell Brook threw his hands in the air.
It seemed, according to Brook, that Khan was being difficult simply for the sake of being difficult – perhaps, Brook suspected, because Khan didn’t really want to fight him. Brook recalled so many adjustments to their contracts that it became almost impossible to keep track before they finalized an agreement to fight Saturday night at AO Arena in Manchester, England.
“There were many things, but at the same time, he agreed [to the fight] about six or seven times,” Brook told BoxingScene.com. “Then, just because he’s like a Kardashian, he kept coming back and adjusting the contract. I got to the stage where, as much as I wanted it so bad for the fans, I finally said to my dad and manager, I said, ‘Let’s just forget about it. His demands are so outrageous. But we finally did get there and we got the fight – that’s the main thing.”
Guaranteed purses, pay-per-view splits, the weight limit, the site, whose name comes first on promotional materials and who walks to the ring second were all issues Khan and Brook had to settle before they could sign contracts for their 12-round, 149-pound bout. Both boxers are 35 years old and have been off at least 15 months, but Brook is listed by most sportsbooks as a slight favorite to win their domestic grudge match.
Sheffield’s Brook (37-3, 29 KOs), a former IBF welterweight champion, is just glad that fight night is rapidly approaching after laborious negotiations with Khan (34-5, 21 KOs), who once held the IBF and WBA 140-pound championships and the WBA welterweight title.
“He’s just a drama queen,” Brook said when asked why he likened Khan to a Kardashian, a famous family of reality TV stars. “He thinks that it’s all about him. His demands are insane. He’s in cuckoo land. He’s deluded, but I put that to one side and I’ve just had to deal with him, and we’re gonna fight. It is what is. We’ve got the fight, and I’m gonna be fit and strong and fully healthy for the fight.”
Sky Sports Box Office will broadcast Brook-Khan as the main event of a pay-per-view show in the United Kingdom and Ireland (£19.95; 6 p.m. GMT). In the United States, ESPN+ will stream Khan-Brook as a main event (1 p.m. ET; 10 a.m. PT).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.