The long-running feud between Amir Khan and Kell Brook reached new heights on Thursday in an ugly escalation ahead of their upcoming grudge match.
Things turned sour during a pre-fight press conference which saw the pair begin trading homophobic and racist insults.
Brook, who is from Sheffield and is mixed race, said he would smash Khan’s “poppadom chin”.
Khan is a British-Pakistani Muslim who has a feud with Brook that stretches over a decade.
On Sunday (broadcast from 5am AEDT on Kayo and Fox Sports 506), the pair will fight for bragging rights once and for all.
Watch Amir Khan v Kell Brook Live on Kayo Sunday 20th Feb. Main Card starts 5AM. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free now >
The press conference exchange started when Brook explained how he shared a room with Khan as an amateur, leading to homophobic insults.
“That doesn’t sound right…” Khan responded. “Listen, I haven’t shared a room with you, don’t be saying that.”
Brook then said: “It’s you who was on gay sites w***ing yourself off.”
Khan then called out Brook for a video he saw where he allegedly claimed he would smash “that poppadom chin.”
“You said that, didn’t you?” Khan said to Brook. “The way you said that was really sad. When I saw that video, I thought, ‘wow – one; why are you having a dig at me, but two; why are you having a dig at my race and being racist?’
“So for that, he needs to get a beating. I’ve never been a racist and I show my love to everyone.
“I’m sure he’s got fans in the Pakistani, Indian and Asian community and for him to come out with comments like that… you should care about your people. We aren’t going to be friends after all the racial comments. One thing was the hatred, but the racism, he has taken it too far.
“How can I be friends with someone like that?”
Brook denied his comments were racist and claimed it was a comment about how fragile his opponent’s chin was.
“He’s trying to get everyone on his side to make out that I’m some kind of racist character,” Brook said.
“I’m not. There’s no way where I’m from I’m racist at all. I didn’t mean anything at all. I meant how delicate poppadoms are; they just break the same as his chin. That is the only angle I was coming at there.”
He added: “I’ve got Asian and Indian people I train with, and fans.
“It’s pathetic how he is trying to portray me.”
In reaction to the press conference, Sky Sports’ Adam Smith labelled the interaction as “disgraceful”.
“When you getting into, let’s be honest, racist and homophobic stuff, it’s disgraceful,” he told Boxing Social.
“They should not have done it, I hope they apologise and I hope they feel ashamed about what they did, because it was totally wrong.”
Earlier, Khan said he was “worried about the health” of Brook “after the beating” he claimed he was going to give him.
“The beating he’s going to get is something he’s never got before. Ten years this has been going on for, this is my time to put him in his place.
“Kell has been very obsessed with my career, I think he’s a fanboy, that’s the honest truth. I’ve been in his head for so long, I probably need to start paying rent.”
In return, Brook said: “He’s definitely going to sleep on Saturday night when I smash him in.
“It seems that he has only taken this fight because he thinks I’m half broken. He’s made a massive mistake.”
The fighters will square off again on Saturday (AEDT) for the weigh-in.
No belts are on the line and both men are past their prime, but have taken the fight to settle their feud once and for all and take bragging rights into retirement.
