By John Angus MacDonald

Over the weekend, rumours began to circulate claiming that HBO had reported that IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook had rejected the chance to face Miguel Cotto on June 18.

The statement appears to have originated on Facebook and hasn’t been substantiated by any of the parties involved. Regardless, it spread quickly across social media platforms. Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn has reached out BoxingScene to refute the claims.

Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) captured the title with a majority decision win over the then-unbeaten Shawn Porter in August of 2014. A machete attack—suffered in the weeks following his win—left him requiring 32 staples in his leg and kept him out of the ring for seven months.

This injury combined with two underwhelming mandatory defences enforced by the sanctioning body—against Jo Jo Dan and Kevin Bizier—has meant Brook has had a somewhat low-key reign as champion. However, the Sheffield man has been vocal about his desire to test himself against the elite names in the sport and the Puerto Rican legend fits the bill.

Hearn confirmed that he was approached by HBO regarding the bout and he empathically expressed that his fighter would be interested in the contest, but it failed to come to fruition.

“I couldn’t stop laughing at the weekend when I saw someone saying that us [Matchroom Sport] or Brook had turned down the Miguel Cotto fight,” Hearn told BoxingScene before revealing the timeline of events.

“Back in February, Peter Nelson from HBO called me and asked me if we’d be interested in Brook against Cotto. I think my answer was something like: ‘We’d walk to America for that fight.’

“From there, he said he’d go and discuss it with Roc Nation [Cotto’s promoter], Miguel and Freddie [Roach, Cotto’s trainer]. In the meantime, I reached out to Roc Nation to confirm our interest. A week had passed and I’d heard nothing so I spoke to Peter again, who said he’d chase it up.

“Towards the end of February, I emailed Dino Duva at Roc Nation and asked him again if there was any interest in Brook v Cotto for the proposed June 18 date. He replied, and said it wasn’t a fight he was looking at for June but there could be some interest in it in the fall and he would come back to me.”

If a date was offered for the bout later on in the year, Hearn says that his fighter would happily travel to the U.S. and urges everyone involved to make the fight happen.

“The Miguel Cotto fight is probably the perfect fight for Kell Brook,” Hearn said. “If there is any interest I suggest HBO and Roc Nation pick up the phone, because we would accept that fight in a nanosecond.“