KELL BROOK WILL have to wait a while longer for a fight with arch nemesis Amir Khan after it was confirmed this week that the latter will head to the jungle to partake in the new season of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!
Former unified light-welterweight world champion Khan, who turns 30 in three weeks’ time, hasn’t fought since his annihilation at the right hand of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in a WBC World middleweight title bout (set at a 155-pound catchweight) just over 18 months ago, and will join ‘celebs’ such as Jamie Vardy’s wife, Rebekah, and Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley, in the jungle from next week.
Brook, dethroned as IBF World welterweight champion in a thrilling bout with American sensation Errol Spence Jr back in May, has been on a collision course with Khan for the best part of a decade.
The Sheffield star, a year Khan’s senior, admitted to Sky Sports that he’ll be glued to the screen when his rival returns to primetime television, joking that Khan had traversed the globe in order to avoid their once-inevitable showdown.
“He’s always finding some kind of excuse and now he’s traveled to the other side of the world to get away from me,” Brook said.
“The next thing he’ll be saying is, if Kell comes to the jungle and lasts longer than he does, he’ll fight me then!”
“It [I'm a Celeb] is a programme that I do enjoy watching. I’m looking forward to seeing him on the show.
I’ll be voting for him to eat some kangaroo testicles, or something like that. I’ll make sure that he has to do something for avoiding the fight with me.
Brook added that, in spite of having shared a Sky Sports studio with Khan in the past as well as publicly trading barbs for a number of years, he still hasn’t quite gotten to know Khan as a person, explaining that he was looking forward to seeing how Khan would interact with his fellow Celebs.
“Let’s see what his personality is like,” said the former IBF World welterweight champion. “I’m looking forward to seeing what he’s about, if I’m honest with you. But if he gets in there with me, there is only one winner, and that’s me.”
Despite his recent inactivity and the perception that he has wasted his prime years, Khan is tentatively scheduled to fight three times in 2018, starting with February.
Brook, who shattered an orbital bone for the second successive fight in submitting to Spence – the other one, as opposed to that which was broken by Gennady Golovkin – is eyeing a ring return sometime in the first quarter of next year.
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We are in month 4 of the year. Salah has been incredible thus far but Keane is right in the sense that it’s very hard to make a case for any player unless they have major honours behind them. Look back on all the winners and the vast majority have won the big trophies. Of course if they win the CL which is very possible, he becomes a red hot favourite.
@Robert O Farrell: Agreed. The international competitions also usually take precedence over club football in Ballon D’or voting so how Messi, Ronaldo and Salah perform during the World Cup will have a big impact.
@Robert O Farrell: complete b0110cks.
You could theoretically be the best player in the world playing for a team winning bugger all but outperforming your peers except in trophies. And not to be considered?
Guess that means Brian O’Driscoll never should have been mentioned as a world player of the year contender as he (Ireland) bottled world cups and grand slams?
@Mikarlachenko: Shut it fool
@Mikarlachenko: Even after winning a grand slam and a Heineken cup in 2009 BOD still didn’t get player of the year (yup, still bitter about that one and the bould Richie McCaw). Its actually a good reflection of the situation with the balloon d’or, there’s no way Messi and Ronaldo have been the outstanding candidates every one of the last 10 years but yang hasn’t stopped the accolades heading their way
Normally agree with Keane and he usually says it as it is. However, the award is player of the year. Its isn’t an award for the best player in a team that won trophies this year.
It’s an individual, not team award – if salah consistently plays this well through the year and is the best player in the world, then he deserves to win it. This is regardless of whether Liverpool or Egypt win anything.
@Seán C: THANK YOU! Spot on
@Seán C: It’s about the trophies though. Messi outscored Ronaldo last year, but Ronaldo won the trophies. It probably shouldn’t be that way but it’s a team game!
@Shy Tall Knight: It’s an individual award
Rubbish as usual from Keane.. the best player in the world is just that..you don’t need a body of work behind you ..its a seasonal award…if Liverpool win the champions league he has to be on the short list…and that’s from a spurs fan!
@Barry Evans: Is that not basically what Keane said? Win the trophy and then he’s in the conversation!
@Barry Evans: that’s exactly what he said. If he doesn’t win something then he isn’t at that level.
@Barry Evans: betraying your anti Keane bias there.
And since when does he regularly talk rubbish, if anything hes always straight to the point. Especially compared to half the spoofers on football panels
@Jim Demps: He’s already won pfa player of the season. You’re looking for Liverpool as a team to win something as a measure of him deserving an individual reward. It’s beyond stupid. It’s like when Portugal won the euro’s and people said Ronaldo deserved player of the year for it, even though he did sweet feck all the whole tournament. Absolute idiocy
@Barry Evans: obviously didn’t read the article ooopps
@Barry Evans: eh ‘rubbish as usual from Keane’ and then you repeat EXACTLY what he was saying ??? Idiot.
@Barry Evans: it’s a yearly award
@Barry Evans: To be considered a great player you have to be performing consistently well over a period of years. No doubt Sala having great year and is probably player of the year but can he do it next year and the year after, Messi and Ronaldo have so did Keane in his pomp, (probably best ever midfielder in PL, even maybe europe as well). Keane spot on in what he is saying.
I think if the voting was tomorrow he’d win it but still a long way from the voting. If he doesn’t win the champions league or have a good start to next season i feel it will go to someone else. Especially if Ronaldo or Messi have a good world cup.
Ronaldo form this year has been a major reason why Madrid are where they are in la liga. His form was really poor for the first half of the season. Yes he has been unreal in the champions league but no better than salah . He has 15 goals , 3 of which are penalties . For me to that he has to win the champions league to win the balón is crap . He could score a hat trick if he gets to the final and Madrid could score four, with Ronaldo having a nightmare like last night and it scoring . Would Ronaldo still deserve it then ? For me. It’s salah number 1 , messi number 2 and Ronaldo number three at present . Salah is about to have the greatest season in English football history surely it deserves to be recognized ,
Andy cole is a strange example considering the striking talent Keane played with, one goal internationally and I can’t remember him ever scoring in a cup final. Yorke, sheringham, RVN, solskaer, Rooney and ronaldo would all spring to mind ahead of him
@Sean Lawlor: He’s talking about amounts scored , not most important and boy did Andy Cole score some amount of goals.
@Sean Lawlor: Internationally he had Shearer, Sheringham, Owen and Fowler to contend with too.
@Hardly Normal: And Keane never played with him internationally. in fairness to Keane he was only talking about strikers he played with at club level so not unreasonable to include Cole.
Where the hell is all this coming from. He has had a very good season and they want to erect a shrine to him. Give him a few more seasons and if he still doing what he has done this season then consider it. Gods aren’t made in one season.