Brook On Khan's Support: I Don't Know What To Say; Always Has Something Up His Sleeve

Kell Brook couldn’t help but smile when he was asked about Amir Khan publicly supporting him in advance of his shot at Terence Crawford’s WBO welterweight title.

Those bitter British rivals have spent years talking trash about one another. Khan and Brook still haven’t fought, but it remains a high-profile fight in the United Kingdom that interests both boxers.

If Brook were to upset Crawford, he’d owe Crawford a rematch, yet that win would also make a potential showdown with Khan more meaningful. That possibility primarily could be why Khan will be “rooting for” Brook to dethrone Crawford on Saturday night at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.

Khan expressed support for Brook in an interview that was posted on SecondsOut.com’s YouTube channel Saturday (https://www.boxingscene.com/amir-khan-brook-stop-crawford-reign-i-gonna-rooting-him--153126).

“I don’t know what to say,” Brook said during a virtual conference call Monday. “You know, he changes his mind one day to the next. It’s a positive message. I can’t say anything negative, you know, but I’m not focused on what people are saying because, you know, most of them are negative. [I’m not concerned other than] what my immediate team think and what job we need to do, and that’s become victorious Saturday night. So, that’s the main thing.”

Crawford stopped Khan in the sixth round of a one-sided fight 18 months ago at Madison Square Garden in New York. The heavily favored Crawford floored Khan in the first round, controlled the action thereafter and won by sixth-round technical knockout when Khan couldn’t continue because Crawford landed what was ruled an unintentional low blow.

Khan (34-5, 21 KOs) still wants to battle Brook, which could be the former IBF/WBA 140-pound champion’s ulterior motive in surprisingly supporting Brook entering one of the toughest fights of Brook’s career.

“There’s always something up his sleeve,” Brook said. “There’s always something up his sleeve. But I’m not focused on Amir Khan. I’m focused on Terence Crawford, you know, so let’s talk Terence.”

Handicappers have made the 33-year-old Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs), of Omaha, Nebraska, at least a 14-1 favorite to beat Brook (39-2, 27 KOs), of Sheffield England.

Their 12-round, 147-pound championship match will headline an ESPN telecast in the United States (10 p.m. EST; 7 p.m. PST) and a Premier Sports 1 broadcast in the United Kingdom (12:30 a.m. GMT). 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.