Amir Khan insists it is Kell Brook‘s fault the latest attempt to make their long-awaited Battle of Britain fell at the final hurdle.
The duo looked set to draw a line under years of talk by finally agreeing to meet in a domestic blockbuster later this year.
But Khan instead opted to take on pound-for-pound star Terence Crawford, the brilliant, undefeated WBO welterweight champion, for less money than he would have banked by facing Brook.
As such, the Bolton man has been accused of ‘ducking’ his long-term verbal sparring partner but Khan says he had no choice but to swerve Brook again.
Former IBF welterweight champion Brook, 32, looked far from his best in his last outing, when he was taken the 12-round distance by 14/1 outsider Michael Zerafa in December.
And Khan says that performance was enough to make him seek out a different challenge.
“This is a guy who could not even sell out the arena in his hometown,” said Khan of Brook. “It did hardly any tickets sales and the performance was so bad it upset the few people that did turn up.
“That meant I was selling our [potential] fight all on my own back and it would have been too much pressure selling the fight on my own.
“Hopefully Kell comes back with a big win and we go from there but I can still get the big money fights. I am not chasing Kell Brook.
“I want him to have a good performance and respect me but I will always be the A-side.”
However Khan will be the B-side on 20 April when he takes on Crawford in either Madison Square Garden, New York or the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The 31-year-old of Omaha, Nebraska is arguably the No 1 pound-for-pound fighter on the planet having won all four major titles at light-welter before moving up to become a two-weight champion last year.
Given his decision to take on another of the world’s leading lights, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, in 2016, Khan is no stranger to accepting seemingly unwinnable fights.
But the 32-year-old, now nearly 15 years on from clinching gold at the Athens Olympics, is adamant he can upset the odds and become the first to beat 34-0 Crawford.
“This is a fight I know I can win,” added Khan, who is set to pocket around £4m for his part in the encounter.
“This will be like a chess match, I will not go in and get hurt, I will try to win otherwise I would not have taken it.
“I had an easier fight there for me with the Kell Brook fight. But I feel this fight will put me where I need to be.
“This means more to my career [than fighting Brook] because beating Crawford will leave behind a great legacy.
“The Brook fight will always be there. Even if things go bad in this fight, the Brook fight will still be there.
“I am not saying I do not want the Brook fight, I would love it, but this fight shines more because he has the title and is a pound-for-pound star so this is where I belong.
“I am in a division and position where I am a big name, globally, I can almost get any big name to fight me.
“Brook was close, very close, one night it was Brook and the next morning it was Crawford. Before that people were saying I had nowhere to go and now I have Crawford.
“People will say I have no chance and that is perfect for me because I love being the underdog. That takes all the pressure off of me and I can prove I am the best.”
At Tuesday’s London press conference, Crawford suggested that Khan is not currently inside the world’s top five at welterweight which raised a wry smile from the Englishman.
“Maybe Crawford’s going to go into this fight not training hard and thinking he’s going to win easily, and we’ll do a job on him,” Khan said. “I’d rather him think I’m not in the top 10 because then we can shock him.”
