Khan says he’ll fight Brook if Eddie Hearn isn’t involved

By Boxing News - 05/23/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan’s recent brutal knockout loss to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez seems to have knocked some sense into him briefly, as he’s now saying he’s willing to fight IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook. However, Khan says the fight cannot happen as long as he’s with Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn.

Why precisely Khan doesn’t want Hearn involved is anyone’s guess. Perhaps Khan isn’t pleased with some of the less than glowing things Hearn has said about him over the years or maybe it’s something Hearn said recently after Khan was knocked the spark out in the 6th round by Canelo on May 7 of this month on HBO PPV in Las Vegas, Nevada. Whatever the case, Khan doesn’t want Hearn involved in a fight between him and Brook.

I seriously doubt Brook is going to change promoters from Matchroom to one of the other British promoters; not when they have a such a great contract with Sky Sports to have their fights televised exclusively on their network. If Brook were to go to another promoter in the UK, he likely wouldn’t have the same visibility as he has now with Matchroom.

“It’s not going to happen! It seems to me like they don’t want it,” said Khan to Talksport.com. “I gave them the opportunity to take the fight, but they don’t want it. That fight is never going to happen. If it happens it’ll be a miracle. I’m ready for Kell, whenever. But if he’s with Eddie Hearn it’s not happening.”

Khan needs to swallow his pride and work with Hearn. Sometimes you’ve got to work with people that you don’t want to in order to further your career. Khan needs to look at this in an adult manner, and realize that he can make a bundle of cash in working with Hearn to put the Brook fight together. It’s not as if Hearn isn’t going to be around to see what happens with Khan in the rest of his career.

Even if Khan doesn’t fight Brook, Hearn will be well aware of every fight Khan has. If Khan is worried about Hearn gloating over his losses, then he should be bigger than that. It’s pretty clear that Khan isn’t someone like Floyd Mayweather, who gets the last laugh with being unbeatable and winning all the time. Khan isn’t that kind of fighter.

It’s worth it for Khan to deal with Hearn because he can make so much money fighting Brook. If Khan fights someone else instead of Brook, he won’t get the big cash that he just got in his fight against Canelo. Khan would be taking a big pay cut. I think it’s worth it for Khan to get as much money as he can, and the best way for him to do that is to fight Brook and deal with Hearn.

Well, as long as Khan is going to take the attitude that Hearn can’t be involved in the promotion, then he’s right, there won’t be a fight between him and Brook. It’s too bad because it would be an interesting fight for as long as it lasts. Khan needs this fight now against Brook because it looks like his career is on the brink of implosion. I don’t know how many more fights Khan can lose before he’s officially done as a fighter, but my guess is one more knockout loss and it’s over with for him.

Khan already dodged a bullet earlier with his very narrow 12 round decision win over Chris Algieri, his controversial win over Julio Diaz in 2013, and his fight against Marcos Maidana in 2010. That was the fight where Khan was out on his feet in the 10th after nailed by a big right hand from Maidana. However, when Maidana tried to finish Khan off, he had referee Joe Cortez getting in between him constantly while he was trying for the coup de grace.

Cortez kept separating Maidana from Khan when he was working over on the inside, and it was almost like a comedy. But I have no doubts in my mind that Khan would have been knocked out in that fight if a referee was working the fight that stood out of the way of Maidana while he was putting the end to Khan Everything that has occurred in Khan’s career since his fight against Maidana has been a downward slope.

“I’m in great condition,” said Khan about how he’s doing since his loss to Canelo. “Obviously the fight didn’t go okay, it didn’t go the way I wanted it to go, but now I’m back in the UK and am fine. All the tests were fine, and I’m ready to go again. I’m still young and I’m still hungry.”

Khan says he’s in great condition, but you can only know that when you fight after a knockout. If Khan can face another big puncher and stay on his feet for the full 12 rounds without getting knocked cold and without being stunned repeatedly by shots, then he can say he’s fine. But right now it’s still too early to know how Khan is until he gets inside the ring to fight.

If Khan fights WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia next and gets blasted to oblivion by him like many boxing fans think he will, then I think it’ll be the end of any hopes for a Khan vs. Brook fight. It won’t be doable at that point. Khan cannot afford one more loss if he wants the Brook fight.

The smart thing for Khan to do would be to take a couple of light tune ups to make sure he’s okay against some non-punchers while he waits for Brook to become free clear of his unification fight against WBO welterweight champion in the summer. Once Brook gets past Vargas, then Khan can look to setup a stadium fight with him if he’s willing to fight him. You never know. Brook might turn up his nose to a fight against Khan if he suddenly starts showing interest in fighting him. You know how that one goes. Brook has been trying for ages to get a fight against Khan. But if he picks up the WBO title, Brook might turn his back on Khan and ignore him forever.