By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) is saying he DOES NOT want Kell Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) to vacate his IBF welterweight title to avoid his mandatory challenger Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs). Khan says he wants Brook to face his mandatory challenger, because he can’t respect him if he gives up his IBF belt to avoid the talented American fighter.
Khan wants Brook’s IBF title to be on the line when he faces him later in 2017. Khan is very clear about that. He wants the opportunity to try and win the IBF title from Brook.
Brook hasn’t yet vacated his IBF title as of yet, but there’s talk that he will be doing just that. Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn will be the one deciding with him whether to steer around Spence by vacating the IBF belt or taking the fight. There’s also the possibility that Hearn could speak with the International Boxing Federation to see if they’ll let Brook face his mandatory later on down the line after the Khan fight; although I doubt that the IBF will be agreeable to that, because they’ve already scheduled the purse bid for the Brook-Spence fight on February 26.
When it gets to this stage, it’s not likely that the IBF is going to be talked out of enforcing the mandatory title shot for Spence. The IBF already let Brook fight outside of the welterweight division recently in his failed challenge against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. The IBF isn’t likely going to be receptive in freezing Brook’s mandatory requirements just so that he can fight a soft target.
Khan has already said that his fight against Brook isn’t going to take place until later in 2017. As such, Brook is going to need to fight anyway against someone else unless he wants to sit idle until the Khan fight. That would be sad to see – Brook vacating his IBF title to avoid Spence and then sitting out of the ring until the Khan fight.
Khan said this to IFL TV about his thoughts on the Brook vs. Spence situation:
“Hopefully, two fights in 2017,” said Khan. “I’m going to be back stronger. I’m only 30. I’m still young. I’ve got some great fights ahead of me. I got beat by one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in Canelo. With Kell Brook, I’ve heard rumors that he may give up his IBF title, because he doesn’t want to fight his mandatory, whoever that is. I find that quite sad, holding the IBF title and giving it up, because you don’t want to fight your mandatory. I think that’s quite soft and quite sad to see in boxing. You can’t respect a guy like that. If the fight happens between me and him, I don’t think it’s going to happen in early 2017, because of my hand operation. Look, I want to fight him. I want to put things straight. I think it’s sad that he gives up his title, because he doesn’t want to fight his mandatory. If he held his title, the fight would be bigger. I would like to take that title away from him. Kell Brook doesn’t want to fight his mandatory Errol Spence,” said Khan.
So there it is. Khan won’t respect Brook if he vacates his IBF title to avoid Spence. I told you. I totally agree with Khan. How can you respect Brook if he vacates his IBF welterweight title to avoid Spence? Brook needs to take that fight for better or for worse. No matter what happens, Brook can at least say he tried to beat Spence. Yeah, Brook might ultimately lose the Khan fight if he gets knocked into oblivion by Spence Jr., but that’s the way things go.
Khan is sitting at the top of the food chain for Brook, but he’s going to have to EARN that fight by going through Spence. It should be no problem for Brook to beat the 2012 U.S Olympian Spence. Hearn has been yapping about how he believes that Brook is the best fighter in the welterweight division hands down. Well, this is Hearn’s chance to show his belief in Brook by having him take the fight with Spence so he can prove he’s the best. If Hearn TRULY believes that Brook is the No.1 fighter in the 147lb division, then he’ll take on Spence and beat the 26-year-old. But, if Hearn has just been flapping his gums in saying that Brook is the best without truly meaning it, then he’s going to get found out by having him vacate his IBF title to avoid Spence. Hearn could let Brook take on Spence, and he could get exposed in the same way he was in his 5th round knockout loss to Gennady “GGG” Golovkin last September. Brook refused to stand his ground against Golovkin, and we saw how he ran around the ring for five rounds until his trainer Dominic Ingle threw in the towel when the going got tough on him. The boxing fans that had paid to see Brook fight at the O2 Arena on the night were unhappy as heck to see Ingle throwing in the towel. Many of the fans wanted to see Brook go out on his shield rather than being saved by the white towel being tossed into the ring to signal surrender.
“We give him [Brook] a lot of credit for fighting Triple G, but maybe he knew he was going to get beat,” said Khan. “He knew no one was going to say anything about that fight. But now he’s fighting someone at his own weight, and he knows it’s going to be a tough fight. He don’t want to fight him, because he’s getting beat by someone from his own weight will kill a fight between me and Kell Brook. So he’s only going for that money fight. I think Errol Spence is a great fighter. He’s obviously beatable, and obviously, he’s a young, hungry fighter, and wants to be the best and wants greatness. He is making a lot of noise and doing great things in boxing. I have a lot of respect for him, and I think he’s a great fighter,” said Khan.
I totally agree with Khan about why Brook was willing to fight middleweight Golovkin. Brook had nothing to lose by moving up in weight to fight GGG. Brook wasn’t ever going to take any criticism from the boxing fans due to him moving up two weight divisions to take the fight. The only thing that Brook had to do was make sure that he didn’t get annihilated immediately, and the way he accomplished that goal was to stay on the move constantly to keep Triple G from trapping him to force him to fight.
Brook was still almost knocked out in the 1st round after getting staggered late in the round by a tremendous left hook from Golovkin. The fight likely would have ended in round 1 if Golovkin had hurt him earlier in the round. By Brook getting hurt late in the 1st round, he was able to survive due the round ending. Brook made sure that he wasn’t knocked out quickly due to the movement that he did. All he needed to do was land an occasional shot before getting back on his bike to run around the ring. It worked.
When Golovkin finally caught up to Brook and hurt him with a body shot in the 5th, the fight was then halted by Ingle signaling to the referee that he wanted the fight halted to safe his fighter. It made the fight look to some boxing fans like it was never meant to be a fight. Some fans saw it as something that was going to happen all along with Ingle throwing in the towel at the first hint of trouble for Brook. By stopping the fight while Brook was still on his feet, he was able to get out of the fight in a better position than if he were to have been finished on his back the way that warriors do when they go out on their shield.
“If I do fight, it’ll be in April,” said Khan. “Opponent-wise, I’m looking at a few names. Al Haymon is my manager. He’s making sure I get the right fight, and get a good win and move to a good fight. It could be the winner of Danny Garcia-Thurman or it could be the Kell Brook fight. Whoever they put in front of me, I’m ready for. This fight in April is going to be like a tune-up fight for me,” said Khan.
When asked whether he’ll fight on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko fight on April 29, Khan said, “I heard that as well. I’m a superstar in my own way. I can sellout arena in the UK myself. No disrespect, it would be nice if I were on the same card as a heavyweight fight, but that’s all rumors. No, I’ve not heard anything about that. That’s news to me,” said Khan.
In speaking about the Danny Garcia vs. Keith Thurman fight, Khan said, “I think Garcia wins that fight. I think he wins that in style. I think he’s going to be the smarter fighter. He’s been in with better opposition than Keith Thurman. I think Garcia wins that fight all day long. I’ll be tough. I just think he’s been in with better opposition. He obviously has that luck on his side as well. He’s a great boxer with good power. I don’t think Keith Thurman has boxed anyone as strong or as good as Danny Garcia yet,” said Khan.
