Against plethora of talks and ranting of Amir Khan facing media rival and countryman Kell Brook, which was expected to be the final fight of his Matchroom deal (Eddie Hearn) with both boxers under the same promotional outfit, Amir Khan had expressed a strong desire of fighting Terrence Crawford as well.
Swiftly, Top Rank came in calling with big money offer to get Khan into the ring with Crawford.
Matchroom Boxing grabbed the opportunity reckoning that it was too good for Khan to reject the offer to go for Brook.
Finally the deal was accepted and scheduled for Tuesday 15th January 2019 for announcement of the fight.
Eventually after protracted negotiations, Matchroom boxing and Top Rank at a press conference in London announced April 20 as the scheduled date for Crawford and Khan to lock horns in the ring.
After protracted negotiations with Khan once again edging away from a bout with Kell Brook, Matchroom Boxing and Top Rank officially announced the fight today at a press conference in London. The fight comes off at the Madison Square, New York.
“I know this is a dangerous fight and if I switch off I will get hurt – but I can win this fight,” Khan said on Tuesday.
“I wouldn’t take this fight (against Crawford) if I didn’t think I could win.”
“I was always chasing that big fight. This in a way, is a fairer fight for me. In my division, he is probably one of the best pound-for-pound fighters out there.
We tried to make the biggest fights in boxing and obviously it didn’t happen. Look this is the type of fighter I am, I want to be fighting, mixing with the best. I enjoy mixing with the best. Terence is up there with the best.”
“When I got the phone call for this fight, I couldn’t say no to it, because it’s got a world title on the line, an unbeaten fighter. They had Kell Brook there as well, but for me, this is probably globally a bigger fight.” says Khan.
Amir Khan will return to the ring as the underdog after a two year break with a round one (1) trounce on Phil Lo Greco and a unanimous decision over Samuel Vargas in September having lost to Saul Canelo Alvarez in six (6) TKO in a middleweight championship in 2016.
The three (3) divisional champion and pound for pound champion Terrence Crawford (34-0, 25KO) will be making his second defence of the WBO Welterweight belt.
Crawford successfully defended the title with a twelfth (12) round KO of Jose Benavidez Jr and a round nine (9) crashing of Jeff Horn to annex the title.
The fight will be the main bout on ESPN card and aired on PPV.