By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) plans on returning to the ring in the summer of 2017, hopefully against WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia or possibly Kell Brook. The 29-year-old Khan says he’s down to the final five fights of his career, as he plans on retiring from boxing after that. Khan wants to get the most out of the remaining fights of his career, and he feels it’s time to take on Garcia and Brook. It’s likely going to be a fight against just one of them though, because if/when Khan gets knocked out again, it’ll remove the possibility of fighting the other fighter.
Khan is will need time to get his surgically repaired right hand ready for his next fight. This is the reason for the delay in him getting back inside the ring. Khan has become a part time fighter in the last couple of years, as he’s been traveling around the world and not really focusing on his boxing career.
Like a lot of part time fighters, Khan’s chances for success are limited unless he’s matched carefully. You can’t throw Khan in with talents like Keith Thurman and Errol Spence and expect him to win.
Khan thinks that with a win over Garcia or Brook, he’ll be able to lure Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao into fighting him. Mayweather is currently retired, and it might take more than beating a recently knocked out Brook for Khan to get a fight against him.
Khan was viciously knocked out in the 6th round by former WBC middleweight champion Saul Canelo Alvarez last May on HBO pay-per-view.
Khan said this to espn.co.uk about wanting to fight Garcia or Brook to get to a fight against Mayweather or Pacquiao:
“If the [Brook] deal is right I will do it,” Khan said. “I know what the fight can generate. I have agreed to take that fight before but financially I have to get what I need to get paid. It’s the biggest fight left for both of us. The winner of me and Brook would go on to fight Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr. I think Mayweather will come back for one more. I think he would want to fight again.”
The odds of Mayweather coming out of retirement to fight the winner of the Khan-Brook fight are slim at best. There’s no upside in Mayweather fighting either of those guys because it wouldn’t generate many pay-per-view buys in the UK. The casual boxing fans still don’t know who Kell brook is.
The ones that do know of him know are ones that know him from his recent surrender in his fight against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin on September 10 last month on HBO Championship Boxing. You can’t sell a fight between Mayweather and Brook in the U.S after the way Brook was bludgeoned by Golovkin. It’s WAY too soon, and I think it would take years for Brook to become a name in the U.S.
Mayweather doesn’t have years to wait on Brook. As far as Pacquiao fighting the winner of the Brook vs. Khan fight, it’s not going to happen either in my view. Pacquiao’s 84-year-old promoter Bob Arum is keeping him busy with in house fights in facing his own Top Rank guys. The winner of the Khan vs. Brook fight will likely not have a chance to fight Pacquiao. They could maybe fight some of Arum’s other fighters though like Jessie Vargas, Terence Crawford or Tim Bradley, but I cannot see Pacquiao being available.
“Hopefully, it will be Garcia or Brook,” said Khan. “I’ve got about five fights left. I’m going back down to welterweight. I’ll box again in the summer and I want to give the UK fans a fight.”
I think Khan is being a little ambitious in thinking he’s got five fights left in him. My guess is Khan is down to his last two fights, both of which I suspect he’ll lose by knockout. If Khan fights Danny Garcia and Kell Brook in back to back fights, I see him getting knocked out by both guys.
If all Khan wants is big names from this point on, then he loses to everyone he faces in my opinion. Even if Khan is put in with the likes of Andre Berto, I still see him losing. Yeah, Khan can certainly stick it out for the full five fights in a stubborn manner, but if he’s getting knocked out in each fight, I think he’ll get diminishing returns until he’s likely fighting in front of nearly empty arenas and bringing in low ratings if his fights wind up on television. I hate to say it but the writing will be on the wall once Khan gets beaten in his next two fights. The news of Khan losing his next two fights will be a turn off to boxing fans, who won’t want to keep tuning in to see Khan take additional losses.
Khan would be better off taking it easy for a while in facing easy opponents to make sure his chin and surgically repaired right hand holds up under fire before he faces the likes of Danny Garcia or Kell Brook.