Amir Khan's rivalry with current welterweight world champion Kell Brook began during their time as Olympic boxers.
In an interview with FightHype, Khan explained the origins of his rivalry wth Brook. Khan said it began when the two of them were in Olympic training in England and said Brook wants to fight him because he wants to end the rivalry once and for all, and that he considers it a a big money fight.
“I used to remember, the Team England coaches would say to me ‘Amir, spar with Kell Brook, you’re only allowed to throw five right hands in this round. No more.’ So I used to school him when I would just play with him and that’s literally all I used to do, I used to literally play with him and hit him and make him miss and I was never allowed to open up because I was the better fighter and I used to always hurt him so I think that’s why he’s so bitter about them beatings he took off me. That’s why he’s like ‘I want some type of revenge, I want to fight Amir.’ And he knows it’s big money. If we had taken this fight three ago it wouldn’t have been worth the money that it is now. Now is the time where I think the fight is gonna be big and it’s gonna be worth a lot of money...but let him get past his big fights. I want him to focus on what he has in front of him and then maybe that fight happens."
Brook, the IBF welterweight champion, is defending his title against Errol Spence Jr. on May 27. Khan, on the other hand, is still recovering from surgery and had not fought since losing to Canelo Alvarez last year. Khan was close to securing a fight with Manny Pacquiao before Pacquiao reconfirmed his fight against Jeff Horn for later this summer.
Credit to Bad Left Hook for the transcription. Khan's comments can be seen in the video above.
