By Rick Reeno
According to Amir Khan (30-3, 19KOs), he is shocked at some of the stories that have been circulating around the industry. Khan reached out to BoxingScene.com to set the record straight.
Earlier today, Khan revealed that his next opponent for late May has not been finalized. Former WBO junior welterweight champion Chris Algieri has been mentioned, but no agreement has been reached.
Khan denies that Showtime rejected a potential fight with Algieri. He says there have been no serious discussions with any of the networks, because his next opponent has not been finalized.
The British star is presently advised by Al Haymon, who has TV deals with Showtime/CBS, ESPN/ABC, Spike TV, NBC/NBC Sports and Bounce TV.
Khan strongly believes that many of these rumors have been started, and circulated, by Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport. Hearn promotes Khan's domestic rival, IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook. Hearn is aggressively pursuing a domestic mega-fight between Khan and Brook.
"Basically, what Eddie Hearn and Kell are doing are putting me down and I'm not in the UK to defend myself. They are saying that Showtime don't want the fight - which is b*ll*cks. We've not said nothing [to any network]. Nothing has been confirmed [for my next opponent] for Showtime or any other TV network to say no to. One thing I can say, every TV company that we fight on always want me - because I'm an exciting fighter and always give 100%," Khan said to BoxingScene.com.
Another story that irked Khan - was the IBF allegedly approaching him about a final eliminator with Timothy Bradley, and then Khan allegedly turned that eliminator down.
Khan firmly denies that anybody from the IBF approached him about an eliminator with Bradley. More so, he points out the fact that an IBF eliminator is obsolete in his current situation - because he has the ability to secure a direct fight with the champion, Kell Brook, at any time.
"There is supposed to be an eliminator that I turned down with Bradley. That's b*ll*cks. I have not been approached. I can not believe when I heard that. They tried to put me down by saying that I was offered Bradley in an eliminator and I turned it down so now they are going to put someone else in like Frankie Gavin. That's b*ll*cks again because I had nothing offered to me," Khan said.
"I'm not even in the IBF [title race]. I'm in the WBC as number one. I'm the silver WBC champion and number two in the WBA. I don't know where the IBF is coming from. That's just Eddie Hearn, again, fooling the British public - saying that I'm scared of Bradley, because he knows the winner of the eliminator goes on to face Brook."
"Eddie Hearn is putting all of them [stories] out there in the frontend, trying to fool the British public and non-boxing fans and fooling some boxing fans. Obviously he is saying this and some people are believing this because he's a promoter. It's b*ll*cks."
