By Keith Idec
Moments before they nearly came to blows Tuesday, Phil Lo Greco claimed Amir Khan has no intention of fighting Kell Brook.
A Khan-Brook bout is considered the most profitable, promotable conclusion to the three-fight contract Khan signed recently with promoter Eddie Hearn. Brook and Khan both are represented by Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing and their long-discussed domestic showdown would do big business in the United Kingdom.
Lo Greco (28-3, 15 KOs), who’ll face Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) in Khan’s comeback bout April 21 in Liverpool, England, doesn’t think Khan wants any part of Brook.
“Listen, this guy over here, he’s nothing but a salesman,” Lo Greco said about Khan during a press conference to officially announce their fight. “He’s selling you guys all these ideas, and all you do is eat it up.”
Khan reminded Toronto’s Lo Greco that he is a former world champion, but Lo Greco continued criticizing the former IBF/WBA 140-pound title-holder.
“You’re a salesman, bro,” Lo Greco said. “You’re a salesman. You know you’ve been off for two years. Now you signed with Eddie Hearn and you’re selling [to] the people that there’s hope that you wanna fight Kell Brook. You’re looking for every way out [of fighting] Kell Brook. If you wanted to fight Kell Brook, you would fight me at 54, because Kell Brook is 154.”
Bolton’s Khan considers himself a welterweight at the moment. His last fight, a sixth-round knockout defeat to Canelo Alvarez in May 2016, was a WBC middleweight championship match contested at a maximum catch weight of 155 pounds.
Sheffield’s Brook – who’s coming off back-to-back knockout defeats to Gennady Golovkin and Errol Spence Jr. – has moved up from the welterweight limit of 147 pounds to 154 for his next fight. Brook (36-2, 25 KOs) is scheduled to battle Belarus’ Sergey Rabchenko (29-2, 22 KOs) on March 3 in Sheffield.
“He wants to fight at 147,” Lo Greco said regarding Khan. “Let’s look at 147. Danny Garcia – whupped your ass. Shawn Porter – steamrolls you. Errol Spence – let’s not even go there. Keith Thurman – let’s not even talk about it. If you really wanted to have a chance and make some money, you’d say, ‘You know what? I wanna fight Kell Brook at 154.’ That’s your only chance. You’re looking for every way out, not to fight Kell Brook.”
Khan interjected to ask Lo Greco why he hadn’t included himself on the list of fighters who’d beat the 31-year-old former champ.
“So you’re calling yourself a bum, basically?,” Khan said. “You mentioned all of them, but you didn’t mention your own name.”
The confident Lo Greco, 33, laughed off Khan’s taunts.
“You’re my tune-up,” Lo Greco said. “I’m not your tune-up. You’re my tune-up, bro. I’m not your tune-up. You’re my tune-up.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
