Amir Khan vows to put ‘fanboy’ Kell Brook ‘in his place’ during grudge clash

Brook has coveted a fight against Khan for several years and up to a few months ago he was repeatedly rebuffed, but the pair will finally settle their differences in a 149lb catchweight contest at the AO Arena in Manchester on Saturday.

They were pulled apart by security at the fight announcement in November last year but while a head-to-head at Thursday’s final media conference passed off without major incident, Khan and Brook threw unseemly barbs at each other.

Khan said: “I’m worried about a few things, one being Kell’s health after the beating I’m going to be giving him come fight night. The beating he’s going to get is something he’s never had before.

“We are going to definitely put him in his place. This has been going on for 10 years. Kell has always been very obsessed with my career, he is like a fanboy, which is the honest truth.

“I’ve been living in his head for so long now where there comes a time where he asks me to pay rent. I think we have done enough talking, I can’t wait to get in the ring and do a job on him now.”

Kell has always been very obsessed with my career, he is like a fanboy,

There is a feeling this encounter is years too late, with the suspicion that both combatants are past their primes, but ex-unified light-welterweight champion Khan believes their careers have been on different paths up until now.

They have largely been campaigning in the same weight category for a decade but while Brook was IBF welterweight titlist between 2014 and 2017, Khan had several bouts in the United States and accused his foe of being envious of his success.

Bolton-born Khan added: “I think it’s more jealousy than anything. I’ve been having my own career and fighting in America.

“My dream was always to win a world title and fight at the likes of Madison Square Garden, Las Vegas… Kell was over here, that’s the reason the fight didn’t happen before because I was already campaigning in America.

“If either of us lose, it’s going to be something we won’t be able to live with for a very long time. It’s going to haunt us for a very long time but I’m not even putting that in my mind.”

There remains strong interest in this fight among boxing fans in the UK, as evidenced by tickets selling out in just 10 minutes, and Yorkshireman Brook is convinced he will have his hand raised in his opponent’s back yard.

“He can say what he wants but he’s definitely going to sleep on Saturday night when I smash him,” said Brook, who has recovered from being stabbed twice and has had surgery on both eyes following broken orbital bones.

“(Khan has) said I’m half-broken, it seems to me he’s only taken this fight because he thinks I’m half-broken but he’s made a massive mistake.

“We’ve been doing absolutely everything possible to be in the best possible shape for Saturday night. The world’s going to see me go in there and destroy him.”

The tangible animosity even spread to the respective coaches of Khan and Brook, with Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre and Dom Ingle shouting over each other for a couple of minutes in a fraught slanging match.

While there has been plenty of speculation at who will triumph between the 35-year-olds, the bookmakers have Brook has slight favourite, and Khan said: “I’m quite surprised by that but it is what it is, it’s cool.”