By Ryan Burton
For weeks promoter Eddie Hearn worked on finalizing a unification welterweight bout between IBF champion Kell Brook and WBO champion Jessie Vargas. He simultaneously worked on a fight between WBC/WBA/IBF/IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and British middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr.
Industry insiders and fans alike were shocked on Friday when Hearn announced that Brook would moved up 13 pounds to face Golovkin which left Vargas out in the cold after previously coming to an agreement with his promoter Top Rank for a reportedly career high 1.7 million dollar purse.
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said that the UK's recent "Brexit" vote to leave the European Union and the turmoil that ensued, is a big reason why the Brook-Vargas fight fell apart.
"First of all you gotta understand how that happened. We had a deal in place with Eddie Hearn and then Eddie Hearn got blindsided by this Brexit thing and the pound went into the sh*t house. He was looking to pay us in a currency that had been 20% devalued so that made it real rough for him and on the other hand he was trying to do Eubank and Golovkin and Eubank was making trouble and when Brook said, 'I will take the money that you are offering Eubank,' which was more than the money he was offering for Brook to fight Jessie.
"Eddie went for that and let us know he couldn't meet his commitment on the Brook-Vargas fight so we are looking for another fight for Jessie and we will probably have an announcement by the end of the week," Arum told BoxingScene.com
As for when Vargas will likely return, Arum said, "most likely in October."
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