By Scott Gilfoid: Poor IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (35-0, 24 KOs) finds himself being ignored and passed over by Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs). It’s become kind of the norm for Brook to be ignored and passed over by Khan for fights, and by now, he should expect that kind of treatment.
Khan will be fighting Canelo on May 7 on HBO PPV in a big money fight. Khan’s father Shah Khan says that Canelo was the third most appealing fight for Khan after 1. Floyd Mayweather Jr. and 2. Manny Pacquiao. That makes sense.
A fight against Canelo is a big deal, whether it makes more money than a fight against Brook or not. Khan stands to gain a heck of a lot more attention fighting Canelo than he ever would in facing the 29-year-old Brook in terms of worldwide attention. To be sure, Khan could make a bundle in fighting Brook in the UK at Wembley Stadium in London, UK, but if Khan loses that fight, then he could pretty much forget about fighting the likes of Canelo for a long, long time. That’s why it’s so much smarter for Khan to fight Canelo while the chance is there, and then look to face the likes of Brook at some later date.
Besides that, it’s important for Khan to fight Canelo before he loses to Gennady Golovkin. Once Canelo gets knocked out by Golovkin, then his value as a fighter will decrease considerably, and he’ll just be seen as another Fernando Vargas type of fighter in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans. Vargas was a good fighter for the most part, but he lost his biggest fights of his career against Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosely, Ricardo Mayorga and Felix Trinidad.
“The fight is always there anyway, it can still happen,” Shah Khan said to skysports.com about a Khan-Brook fight. “Amir is preparing for Canelo now and he is looking forward to it. He has never ducked anybody, if he was ducking anybody, why would he fight a bigger guy? He wants big fights and dangerous fights.”
Khan obviously isn’t ducking the Brook fight. If he was, then why in the heck would he be fighting Canelo? Brook is a decent fighter, but I think it’s safe to say that he would be wrecked if he were to step up a couple of weight classes to fight Canelo at his favorite weight of 155lbs.
Brook couldn’t clinch his way to a 12 round victory over Canelo by draping himself over the Mexican fighter each time he can in punching range. First off, I don’t think referee would allow Brook to clinch constantly against a star like Canelo without taking major points away for flagrant holding. Secondly, I think Canelo would work through the clinches and tear Brook’s body apart until he learned that it’s not a good idea for him clinch nonstop. As such, I think Canelo would knock Brook out and finish him off.
“Amir always wanted a big fight and this is the reason he was chasing Floyd Mayweather, then Manny Pacquiao,” Shah said. “After those guys, Alvarez is the guy out there. Amir wants the best fights, the big fights.”
I don’t know where you put Brook in terms of the big names in the sport of boxing. If it were a top 10 scale of the best fighters from 140 to 160, I think Brook would be well below Canelo. You’d have to rank Mayweather No.1, Manny Pacquiao No.2, Canelo No.3 and Gennady Golovkin No.4. Just where Brook would fall in the pack is unclear. I can’t see Brook beating the likes of Tim Bradley, Errol Spence, Adrien Broner, Jermall Charlo, Jermell Charlo, Demetrius Andrade, Viktor Postol, or Daniel Jacobs. I’m just saying.
I think those guys are all better fighters than Brook. I could also see Shawn Porter beating Brook in a rematch now that he knows how to deal with guys that use nonstop clinching in fights. I’d have to rate Brook as outside the top 10 as far as the best fighters from 140 to 160. I think Brook could fall around No.15 or so, maybe a little higher or lower. It depends. I don’t think Brook’s clinching would work against the top guys. He’d have to actually fight them rather than holding them all night long.
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