Kell Brook is not holding his breath on a future fight with domestic rival Amir Khan.
Brook will return to the ring against Mark DeLuca at Sheffield Arena on February 8. The bout will be Brook's first bout since December 2018.
Khan had recently mentioned Brook as a potential opponent for 2020.
Everything possible has been done in recent years to get the two former world champions in the ring.
Early last year, the fight appeared to be close and on the horizon, but then Khan went in the direction of traveling to the United States to face WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Brook is competing at junior middleweight, but is willing to face Khan at an agreed upon weight. The Sheffield fighter strongly believes that Khan is avoiding the scenario of having to lose to a British fighter - especially to one where a rivalry has been brewing for several years.
“Amir knows where I am, I’m here. If he wants to fight, it’s not hard to make. I’m not being awkward and the world knows that. He’s reluctant because we’re both British and with him saying how easy he can beat me, he wouldn’t be able to walk the streets knowing he’d been pasted all over the ring by me," Brook told The Mirror.
“He’s been saying for years that he will do this, that and other to me, so when I put him flat on his face he wouldn’t be able to walk around the streets. It would do him in. He can lose to Americans, but losing to a Brit - given the history we’ve got - that’s going to hurt. That’s the major issue for him.”
