Is Kell Brook Being Avoided By Top Competition?

Why, oh why, is Brook not getting a major fight?  

Kell Brook has been a champion for a while. Thing is, he hasn't fought a murderer's row of competition since winning his title from Shawn Porter. There are those who feel it's Brook's fault, no doubt, that he's a very modern fighter who just isn't into being competitive. Me, I'm not so sure. Potential bouts with Brandon Rios and Tim Bradley appeared to me to genuinely fall through. In other words, I wasn't left with the distinct impression that Brook was avoiding anyone.

I'm starting to wonder, though, if Brook is being avoided himself. Not by Bradley and Rios, per se (they both seem legitimately interested in facing the talented Brit), but perhaps by others. Amir Khan, for instance, is said to be interested in facing...wait for it...Danny Garcia for a second time. That would be a great match, sure, but team Brook has been pushing for a British superfight with Khan for ages. There would be a lot of money in such a matchup - and a lot of glory.

Why, then, isn't Khan drooling publicly over such an opportunity? I've been supporting Khan for ages but Garcia is an Al Haymon fighter through and through and Al Haymon fighters have a tendency not to meet real challenges with alarming frequency. A Brook fight, on the other hand, is right there waiting for him (ironically enough, Khan is aligned with Haymon himself).

Perhaps Brook isn't being avoided. Perhaps he's just seen as irrelevant. I have a hard time buying that, however. Believing someone is irrelevant and trying to will someone into irrelevance are two entirely different things. There was a time not long ago when everyone wanted a piece of a champion. Now it seems that maybe, just maybe, some known fighters will go out of their way to avoid having anything to do with a particular champion at all.