Warren offers Khan a fight with Kell Brook

By Boxing News - 12/18/2010 - Comments

Image: Warren offers Khan a fight with Kell BrookBy William Mackay: British promoter Frank Warren has offered World Boxing Association (WBA) light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s) a fight with upcoming star Kell Brook (23-0, 16 KO’s) for Khan’s next fight in the UK in April. Khan, who recently barely beat Marcos Maidana in a life and death bout last Saturday night. Brook, who’s ranked #1 by the WBO in the welterweight division, stopped Philip Kotey in the 2nd round on the same night and looked very impressive.

Since Khan wants to fight his next bout in the UK, he can’t go wrong by fighting Brook. This is a fight that British boxing fans would actually care about rather than seeing Khan fight someone like Lamont Peterson, who looked horrible in getting a 10 round draw with Victor Ortiz last weekend.

In Warren’s column at thesun.co.uk, he said this about Khan: “Instead of [Floyd] Mayweather, I hope he takes the offer I have made to him to fight Brit Kell Brook, No 1 to Manny Pacquaio in the WBO at welterweight. It would give home fans another mouth-watering evening.”

I totally agree with Warren. If Khan is the fighter that some people think he is, he should step up to the plate and take on Brook for a crowd-pleasing fight for his British fans. I don’t think he will. Khan always talking about how he’s going to move up to welterweight in the near future to fight Mayweather in 2012. Here’s Khan’s chance to show that he belongs in the same ring with Mayweather. Surely, a future pound-for-pound fighter like Khan should be able to take on someone like Brook, right?

Like I said, I don’t see Khan getting anywhere near Brook, because I think he would lose to Brook, even before Maidana put a serious pounding on him. Brook is a special talent and I see this as a one-sided beating. Khan wouldn’t be able to run like he did last weekend, because Brook is especially sharp at cutting off the ring and fighting in close with powerful combinations thrown from all sorts of angles. Khan likely wouldn’t last long against Brook. I see Khan’s punch resistance as having been diminished from all the punishment he took in the Maidana fight.

It might not take more than a round or two for Brook to get him out of there. But I’d at least like to see Khan step up to the plate and show that he’s not afraid to take on one of the best fighters from his own country. Even if Khan gets blasted out, it would be nice for him to make the effort to fight Brook. They could set up some kind of catch weight for Khan to fight at so that he wouldn’t have to worry so much about Brook being bigger, although I don’t see the point. Khan is taller than the 5’9″ Brook at 5’10” and has a longer reach.

The two divisions are so close that a catch weight really isn’t needed, but if it makes Khan and his team feel better, perhaps Brook and his management can agree to a small catch weight for Khan. I don’t see it helping him any. Brook has got a lot of talent and I see him taking Khan apart and sending him spaghetti-legged around the ring in a chicken dance the way he did in the Maidana and Breidis Prescott fights.



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