By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn whiffed at trying to get Amir Khan for IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook for his summer mega-fight that Brook has been talking about wanting. Brook slipped away and went in the opposite direction towards a big money title shot against WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on May 7 on HBO PPV.
Khan says that Brook turned down an offer for a fight against him. With Khan saying no to the Brook fight, Hearn is now talking about wanting to get one of the following names for Brook for his summer bouts: Danny Garcia, Gennady Golovkin, Keith Thurman or Miguel Cotto.
I’m surprised it’s just those names, because if Hearn widened his list to include a dozen names or so, he’d likely get at least one of them that would be willing to come over to the UK to fight Brook.
“Golovkin, Cotto, Thurman, Garcia,” Hearn told Kugan Cassius of IFL TV on Wednesday. “We might have to travel, but I want to make the big fights here because I’m a British promoter and my partner is Sky.”
Hearn can forget about Cotto and Golovkin agreeing to fight Brook, because that simply isn’t going to happen. Those guys have bigger fish to fry than having to fight Brook at a catch-weight of 155lbs in front of a pro-Brook audience in the UK. I don’t see any of those guys showing interest in taking a fight against someone like Brook, because it’s not a great fight.
If Golovkin wasn’t booked up with fights against other guys, I think he might be interested in facing Brook if he were willing to fight him at the full weight for the middleweight division. No way on earth do I see Golovkin ever agreeing to fight a little known guy like Brook at a catch-weight of 155lbs. That wouldn’t happen. I can’t see it happening in a million years.
You have to wonder why Hearn is having such a hard time getting guys to fight Brook. Hearn failed to get Brandon Rios to come over to fight Brook last year. Is it a case of Hearn not offering enough money for guys to come over to the UK, or it is something else? Whatever it is, Hearn needs to start promoting so he can break the cycle of feeding Brook fodder opponents. I mean, look at the guys that Brook has been fighting recently. When you exclude Shawn Porter from the equation, you’re left with Jo Jo Dan, Frankie Gavin, Alvaro Robles, Vyacheslav Senchenko, Carson Jones, and now Kevin Bizier.
I know that Hearn has that good contract with Sky Sports to have his fights televised on their network, but how come he’s not able to get good opponents for Brook? I hate to say it, but I think Brook would be better off if he were promoted by Golden Boy, Top Rank or managed by Al Haymon. At least he could get some fights against decent opposition.
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