By Edward Chaykovsky

WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10KOs) feels IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-0, 25KOs) was only looking for a big payday - and that's why he agreed to jump up by two weight divisions for a fight with WBA/WBC/IBO/IBF middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs).

The fight was announced last Friday for September 10th at the O2 Arena in London. HBO will televised in the United States and Sky Sports Box Office in the UK.

Vargas had spent weeks awaiting a finalized deal for a Brook unification. The deal never happened.

 

Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport, who promotes Brook, was unable to reach a financial agreement with his fighter. Brook was not very happy that Vargas was going to receive the lion's share of the money.

According to Vargas, Hearn tried to change the financial terms at the last minute. The new terms had Vargas taking less money.

“I believed they used that as an excuse not to fight me,” Vargas said to the Las Vegas Review Journal. “They knew I wasn’t going to agree to those terms. Once we signed the contract, we stick by it, and two days after that he gets the Triple G fight.”

“It was quite a surprise [when they announced the Golovkin fight]. I knew that negotiations weren’t going well, and everything on my side was all confirmed, signed and sealed, ready to be delivered. And we were just waiting for his side. I thought the fight was still going to happen. Then it became definite it wasn’t when the Triple G news happened.”

"[Brook] was just looking for a big payday. It’s a low-risk, high-reward situation. No one expects him to beat Triple G. What happens if he would have lost to me? He goes back to London without his title and no more significant paydays.”