By Edward Chaykovsky
According to Matchroom Sport founder Barry Hearn, who promotes IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook, his company is having a very difficult time in nailing down a huge domestic blockbuster with Amir Khan.
He says Khan is ignoring multiple offers on Brook in favor of opportunities that are not realistic.
Khan has been chasing a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. since late 2013. Mayweather passed on him twice in 2014 and added insult to injury when he picked one of Khan's training-mates, Andre Berto, for his retirement bout last September.
Recently, Khan was attempting to secure a fight with former sparring partner Manny Pacquiao for April 9th. Earlier this week, Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank ruled him out. Ultimately WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley was selected for the date by everyone involved.
"I know Pacquiao well and Bob Arum is a friend of mine," Hearn said to Sky Sports. "I asked Arum 'what percentage of a chance does Khan have of fighting Pacquiao?' Arum said 'less than one percent'. He had no chance. I'm very disappointed because Khan has been almost impossible. He doesn't seem to want to fight anybody. [Being in America] is an excuse.
"I can make excuses too - I want to fight Deontay Wilder myself, right now. Am I going to get that fight? Extremely unlikely. "What I'm saying is that you have to be realistic and live in the real world. He spent 18 months chasing Floyd Mayweather without one percent chance of ever fighting Floyd Mayweather. Then he spent six months chasing Manny Pacquiao."
Barry's son, Eddie Hearn, runs the company and is trying to lock in a Khan-Brook showdown for June 4th, potentially at Wembley Stadium. While Barry acknowledges that the two sides are talking, he has serious doubts about Khan's willingness to take the fight.
"I'm getting more optimistic because, one-by-one, all of Khan's alternatives [are disappearing]," Barry said. "At the moment for Khan to fight someone in the States, unless it's Bradley or a top fighter, he's only going to get a million or a million-and-a-half dollars. For him to fight Brook he'll make three or four times more so it comes down to risk and reward.
"He doesn't want to fight Brook. He was gambling that he'd get a bigger payday but he'll get a lot of money for fighting Brook - but he may get beaten, and I think he probably will. Eddie [Hearn, Matchroom promoter] is trying to talk to his people all the time, and he says he wants to fight. Do I believe him? Not really, no."
