Brook: Khan Wanted 70-30, Fight in Bolton Venue, Walk Out Second

By Edward Chaykovsky

IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) denies that he walked away from the recent negotiations to make a fight with domestic rival Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs).

According to Khan, Brook was not really interested in making the fight happen and walked away.

Brook is still very willing to negotiate the terms and make the fight happen in May, but says Khan is making things very difficult with his "extreme" demands.

Brook has been out of the ring since suffering a stoppage loss last September, when he moved up by two weight divisions to challenge middleweight king Gennady Golovkin at the O2 Arena in London.

Khan was been away since last May, when he moved up to a catch-weight of 155 and was knocked out by Saul "Canelo" Alvarez at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Brook wants to revisit the negotiations with Khan. He's willing to budge on his position of a 50-50 split, but not to the level that Khan is demanding.

"I've been quite vocal over many years that I want that fight. I don't think I would just say I don't want the fight and walk away," Brook told Sky Sports. "He's trying to find anything to not have the fight and everybody knows that I want that fight. I'm willing to bend slightly, even though I've never lost as a welterweight. I've only lost to Golovkin on a broken eye socket.

"I think I'm the main player. I'm the A-side. He got knocked out in his last fight and I don't know how he can kind of call the shots. Just to make the fight happen and get it across the line, I'm willing to bend on some of his demands. Even still, we've not crossed the line with it."

According to Brook, Khan is demanding a 70-30 split of the money, for the event to be staged in his hometown of Bolton, and he wants Brook to walk out first - among other things.

"It's extreme and not just the split. He also wants to have the fight in Bolton. He's also arguing about who comes out first and second. There are many, many things - I could go on all day. Seventy-thirty? He wants to give the champion 30 percent of the cut? He's completely in cuckoo land, that kid," Brook said.