By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan says he’s still interested in facing WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia and IBF 147lb champion Kell Brook in the near future after he gets done with his fight against WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on May 7.
Khan says he wanted to take on one of the biggest names in the sport because he believes he can beat Canelo, and he also feels like he belongs up there with this type of fighter. Khan feels like he was denied the opportunity to show his talent and how he longs among the elite of the sport when Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao both turned him down for a fight.
“To pull off this upset and beat him would probably be one of the biggest boxing news stories in the world,” said Khan to Fighthub. “It’s not like I can’t do it. I can do it. So when this came, I thought, I’m going to grab it with both hands and do this, and shut up the doubters as well. Then I can go back down and face Garcia and if that Kell Brook fight’s there, do that as well.”
Yeah, Khan is right. The Garcia and Brook fights will still be there for him no matter what happens in his fight against Canelo on HBO pay-per-view. Even if Khan gets wiped out, which is quite possible, he can still fight Garcia and Brook. Those guys would probably jump at the chance of facing Khan after he fights Canelo.
The only question is whether Khan will be able to make it back down to the 147lb division to face them. If not, I can definitely see Brook moving up to 154 to fight him. Garcia might not be willing to do that. It depends. If he’s faced with fighting someone that will take his head off like Errol Spence Jr. or Shawn Porter, then I think he’ll happily face Khan for the bigger money without as much risk.
In Brook’s case, I see him heading up towards 154 in the near future anyway. He’s heavy for the welterweight division right now, and it’s got to be hard for him to make weight. Spence is on his way to becoming Brook’s IBF mandatory challenger after he beats Chris Algieri in April, and I don’t see Brook being able to beat a dangerous puncher like Spence. He does everything Brook does but a heck of a lot better in my view. I see Spence as a next level version of Brook.
If Brook takes the fight with Spence, he gets knocked out. That’s why I see Brook vacating his IBF title rather than facing Spence. If Khan offers a fight with Brook at 154, then it’ll give Brook an excuse to permanently avoid the Spence fight by moving up to the safety of the junior middleweight division in order to avoid the fight with the talented American.
“At the moment it’s not really interesting to me,” said Khan about a fight against Brook. I”t’s going to happen one day, just not yet. I’m looking at the bigger picture. I’m doing big fights like Canelo. My name’s been talked about amongst the likes Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Why should I be worried about fighters like Kell Brook? To be honest, I don’t think they’re on my level yet. He’s got some things to do yet. He’s got his defense against Bizier.
“That fight might still be there for me in the UK. Once I win this fight, I can go down and face someone like him. It’s all in good time. We get past this fight. I’m not looking past this fight. This means everything to me.”
I can totally understand why Khan isn’t so excited about fighting Brook. It’s a fight that is only resonates in the UK, because Brook has failed to build a fan base in the U.S by fighting over there. It’s the same boat as other UK fighters like Anthony Joshua, Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg are in. None of them have taken the time to build a fan base in the U.S the way that Khan has been doing for the past six years. The Brook fight will be there for Khan once he finishes finding out what he’s capable of achieving in the sport. If he can beat the likes of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in their fight on May 7, it would be a huge positive for Khan’s career and it would make him a big money maker.
Brook recently showed interested in fighting IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. I’m not sure how serious Brook was in talking about a fight against him. If he is serious then he need to start pushing for the fight with his promoter Eddie Hearn to have him talk to Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions to see if he can line up a fight.
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