AMIR KHAN: IF I CATCH KELL BROOK I DON’T THINK HE’S GOING TOO LAST. IT IS PERSONAL NOW WITH HIM…” I’m ready, the weight’s great, I feel fit, I feel strong. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in this position, a couple of years at least. My last fight was in Saudi Arabia back in 2019 and it seems like a very long time ago. It’s good that I’m back in the mix and against someone everybody knows I don’t like. Everyone knows we’ve had that bad blood for many years. It’s a good time for me to put this thing to bed and to set the record straight. I am the better fighter and I’m going to do a job on him and prove I’m the better fighter.
Everywhere I go people are like, when are you going to fight Kell Brook? I’m like, I don’t know. They say, fight Kell Brook and do a job on him. It’s just that time for me to prove I’m the better fighter. I do feel like having the training camp over here and outrunning the young fighters and outsparring them has been good for me. Normally you’d think with me getting older I wouldn’t be at my best. But I think those breaks I had between fights did me a world of good. Mentally I’m nice and chilled and sharp and I’ve never felt so good, honestly. I’m not going to say if I’m going to fight again after this, or not going to fight again after this. But I do have it in me to have a few more fights.
Being here training with these guys has been amazing. The way they push you but support you at the time. When you’re tired you think you’re going to give up and stop but you don’t, they keep on pushing you. There’s always someone there watching you and motivating you. That’s what it’s all about. Everyone has their purpose. A strength and conditioning coach has his purpose. A boxing coach has his purpose. Two or three assistants watching you have their purpose. The camp they’ve got here, now I know why Terence Crawford is one of the best pound for pound in the world. They’ve got the altitude here, the focus, the team, and the sparring partners. What else do you need?
A couple of months ago I put on some weight and mentally I wasn’t prepared. What prepared me to get back in the gym and train hard was Kell Brook. The fight’s been talked about so much and everywhere I went I would hear that name. I thought, you know what, I’m going to do this fight and then I’ll give him a good beating. That was my motivation. If it was another fight against somebody else it might have been a little bit different. But because it’s me and him and there’s bragging rights. It’s everything.
This fight has got everything. I’m nowhere near as emotional for this fight. For me this is just another fight. One of the best things I’ve done is coming to Colorado Springs and training here. I’m away from everyone, my friends, my family. I’ve got time to focus. I know for a fact being in the UK I would have been asked questions – when’s the fight? How are you feeling? The gym would have been full. TV would’ve been there, media would’ve been there. I feel so good being isolated and being away from all that. I’m just focusing on my job.