Khan, who was born and raised in Bolton to Pakistani parents, brought up comments Brook has previously made about him having a “poppadom chin” and is convinced the comment carried racial connotations.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Khan said: “His excuse was not good enough. It should not be said. Things like that should not be said. This is a sport and we have to respect each other.
“Before the fight we don’t get on, we don’t respect each other, but come fight night that will be the time when we will see who the better fighter is
but before anything like that when race gets involved it just messes things up and I’m quite upset he came out with that comment
In a separate interview with the PA news agency, Khan unequivocally accused Brook of being a racist, saying: “It’s so sad that, that he had to come out with a comment like that.
“I respected him as a fighter…that’s gone out the window now. I thought maybe after the fight we could be friends, I don’t want to be his friend.
“People look up to Kell Brook, he’s on the biggest stage of his career. The reason we have to talk about this and get it out there is so people realise giving racial [abuse] should not happen and we are totally against it.
“Everyone needs to be on that and say ‘it shouldn’t happen’. People shouldn’t be racist, especially in this day and age, come on. We’re in the 21st century and we shouldn’t hear anything racial now. But it is still out there.”
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Brook has vehemently denied being a racist arguing his only intention was to comment on the brittleness of Khan’s chin. But he has said in hindsight he regrets his choice of words.
Brook said: “He’s obviously going down the line of me being racist. Most of my close friends are Asian. The original Amir Khan was going to be in my corner so he’s obviously wanting to get the
people thinking I’m racist but I’m absolutely not. All I was saying was how fragile the poppadom is and his chin is brittle like that. Looking back now I regret it. There’s nothing behind it.”
