Amir Khan labels Eddie Hearn 'bitter' ahead of clash against Kell Brook
- Joe Hewlett
- 17 February 2022
Amir Khan has said Eddie Hearn is ‘bitter’ and 'upset' about not promoting his upcoming clash against Kell Brook.
The two fierce rivals are finally putting to bed their 17-year rivalry this weekend at the AO Arena in Manchester.
It will be live and exclusive for UK & Ireland fans on Sky Sports Box Office under Ben Shalom's Boxxer.
Hearn placed an offer to stage the all-British blockbuster on DAZN, and Khan has claimed that despite the promoter offering more money on the table, he chose Sky over the streaming platform because of how big their audience is.
As the build-up has increased, and more people get excited for the biggest domestic dust-up since Chris Eubank vs Nigel Benn, Hearn has said he probably won't watch it - something which left Khan surprised.
"I've been involved in a money grab. But [Khan-Brook] is [a money grab]," Hearn told Seconds Out.
"It's just the two of them going, 'Let's not be silly. This is massive money for the both of us. Let's make the fight, mate.'
"But they are both 50 per cent the fighters they once were. But it's still going to be a 50-50 fight. I still look at Kell and it looks like he's training hard.
"Khan doesn't look particularly sharp or great, but he's going to give it his everything."
Hearn tried to make the Battle of Britain contest when both were signed up to his Matchroom stable.
Khan would instead decide to face Terence Crawford - a fight that inflicted the fifth defeat of the 35-year-old's professional career.
"Eddie wanted the fight and look, I think with the hype that this fight has got at the end of the day I'm surprised that Eddie has said he doesn't want to watch the fight. I'm sure he'll be tuning into the fight," Khan told Planet Sport.
"Eddie is not one of them to not watch the fight and will probably still flick through or watch it. He's probably upset he didn't get the fight. Sky obviously won the fight, won the bid for many reasons.
"Money isn't everything sometimes. Even if Eddie did offer more, I think it's the more hype, the more advertisement that Sky does - the way they promote the fight is just massive. They've got a massive machine behind them.
"Yes, 100%. I mean that just shows," Khan said when asked if Hearn is being bitter. "I think if he is a boxing promoter, you want to see a fight like this because it's a fight everybody wants to tune into. He's promoted me and he's promoted Kell so does that mean even guys that he's promoted now, if they leave him does that mean he'll never watch one of their fights again?
"It's quite bitter of Eddie for saying that but look, it is what it is. I've always had respect for Eddie, he's one of the top promoters in Britain but I feel he is going to be upset about why he didn't get the fight," Khan concluded.
