By Shaun Murphy-
Amir Khan and Kell Brook were exchanged insults that engulfed their trainers ahead of this weekend’s much-anticipated bout.
Brook and Khan will finally settle their differences in a 149lb catchweight contest at the AO Arena in Manchester on Saturday.
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The pair have had a longstanding grudge which should have been settled in the ring years ago, but was continuously delayed by the political wranglings of the sport. Matters got really heated at the
Amir Khan challenged Kell Brook: ‘I’ve just seen a video in which you say you’re going to smash my poppadom chin. Isn’t that racist?’
The pair were pulled apart by security as they went head-to-head at Thursday’s final media conference passed off without major incident, Khan and Brook threw unseemly barbs at each other.
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Matters got heated after Amir Khan accused Kell Brook of being racist, an allegation Brook dismissed. Khan said: ‘I’ve just seen a video in which you say you’re going to smash my poppadom chin. Isn’t that racist?’
Khan said: “I’m worried about a few things, one being Kell’s health after the beating I’m going to be giving him come fight night. The beating he’s going to get is something he’s never had before.
“We are going to definitely put him in his place. This has been going on for 10 years. Kell has always been very obsessed with my career, he is like a fanboy, which is the honest truth.
“I’ve been living in his head for so long now where there comes a time where he asks me to pay rent. I think we have done enough talking, I can’t wait to get in the ring and do a job on him now.”
With the suspicion that both combatants are past their primes, but ex-unified light-welterweight champion Khan believes their careers have been on different paths up until now.
The pair have been campaigning in the same weight category for a decade but while Brook was IBF welterweight titlist between 2014 and 2017, Khan had several bouts in the United States and accused his foe of being envious of his s
Sky Sports Head of Boxing Development describes the Amir Khan and Kell Brook press conference as uncomfortable and unsavoury and says both fighters let themselves down
Khan: “I think it’s more jealousy than anything. I’ve been having my own career and fighting in America.
“My dream was always to win a world title and fight at the likes of Madison Square Garden, Las Vegas… Kell was over here, that’s the reason the fight didn’t happen before because I was already campaigning in America.
“If either of us lose, it’s going to be something we won’t be able to live with for a very long time. It’s going to haunt us for a very long time but I’m not even putting that in my mind.”
There remains strong interest in this fight among boxing fans in the UK, as evidenced by tickets selling out in just 10 minutes, and Yorkshireman Brook is convinced he will have his hand raised in his opponent’s back yard.
The world’s going to see me go in there and destroy him. “He can say what he wants but he’s definitely going to sleep on Saturday night when I smash him,” said Brook, who has recovered from being stabbed twice and has had surgery on both eyes following broken orbital bones.
“(Khan has) said I’m half-broken, it seems to me he’s only taken this fight because he thinks I’m half-broken but he’s made a massive mistake.
“We’ve been doing absolutely everything possible to be in the best possible shape for Saturday night. The world’s going to see me go in there and destroy him.”
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While there has been plenty of speculation at who will triumph between the 35-year-olds, the bookmakers have Brook has slight favourite, and Khan said: “I’m quite surprised by that but it is what it is, it’s cool.”