Kell Brook says bitter rival Amir Khan will regret messing him around ahead of their mouth-watering clash at Manchester Arena on Saturday night.
Brook and Khan, both 35, will finally meet in an all-British grudge match after a career’s worth of dancing around each other amid growing enmity.
“He has made a big mistake messing me about for the past seven months,” Brook told Sky Sports.
“This fight should have happened before Christmas. I should have spent Christmas with my family.
“But unfortunately for him I have been training for those seven months.
“It is well known that normally I have eight weeks to get ready for a fight and it is usually just about making the weight.
“But for this fight I have been at the weight for a long time and concentrating on what we need to do.
“I am in fantastic shape, and he will know as soon as that first bell rings that I am coming for business.”
Former WBA and IBF light-welterweight champion Khan has not fought since July 2019, while Brook lost to Terence Crawford in November 2020.
Both fighters hold bitter resentment against each other, but it could be argued the pair are settling scores long past their prime.
However, Brook added: “[The animosity] is absolutely real.
“There was an article that came out when we were both 18, and it has been talked about since. Now we are 35.
He has made a big mistake messing me about for the past seven months. This fight should have happened before Christmas. I should have spent Christmas with my family
“We are both in fantastic shape, we are not playing games, we are coming to give it a go, and you are going to see fireworks. There are no games being played. This is for real.”
Brook and Khan both took part in a public workout at the Trafford Centre on Wednesday.
When the fighters last went head-to-head at an ill-tempered press conference in November, they had to be pulled apart by security.
And Khan predicted there could be further fireworks at Friday’s weigh-in.
The Bolton boxer said: “Kell is already wound up. I am going to keep calm and chilled but anything can happen in boxing.
“We don’t like each other. We have not liked each other for 10 years. This could pop off before the fight. When we did the face-off last time it didn’t go too well and luckily the security jumped in.
“Kell looks in great shape, fit and ready. This is the biggest fight of his career so he is going to be in the best shape he has ever been in.
“I know I will have my hands full on Saturday. I am not going to take this fight lightly, but I will give it my all and be more than ready.
“He has already given his game plan away and said that he is looking for a knockout.
“We are going to be too smart for him, too slick for him, and I really believe that once I land my shots I will really hurt him and I see him not making it.”
