By Raj Parmar: Kell Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn has come out and stated that he has begun initial talks in setting up a welterweight championship showdown between British fighters Brook (33-0, 22 KO’s) and Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KO’s) in England with next year spring/summer as the target date, via dailymail.co.uk. Hearn hopes to stage the event in Wembley stadium and match the 80,000 fans that packed the stadium to see British super middleweights Carl Froch and George Groves square off earlier this year.
“I am looking at next spring or summer in a fight, maybe at Wembley, that will be just as big as Froch-Groves. I’ve started talks on it,” Hearn stated, “Khan is suddenly very interested in a fight. We are too. People from Showtime, who show Khan’s fights in the US, came into the dressing room after Kell won and said ‘let’s talk’. Other US broadcasters have also been on – it’s exciting times.”
Brook and Khan have had a long standing rivalry that dates back to their amateur days, when they were teammates on the British amateur squad. They used to go fiercely at one another in sparring sessions with each man claiming to have gotten the better of the other. The rivalry continued as both became pro’s with each man throwing insults at the other on social media every so often.
It has been Khan however that has gone on to become a worldwide star at a much faster rate than Brook with title wins at light welterweight in the past few years; however Brook made up some serious ground with his upset title win over Shawn Porter. Brook right now can call himself a world champion while Khan cannot and Amir is looking to change that by stepping in the ring with his old rival. It is no secret that Khan is looking for a match up against pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather down the line, and a title win over Brook could bolster his value for future fight against the top welterweight.
Another name that has been mentioned for Brook’s first title defense is hard hitting rising star Keith Thurman (23-0, 21 KO’s), but it seems that the Brook camp is leaning toward Khan at this early stage. Although a matchup between two unbeaten fighters such as Brook and Thurman would be a massive fight, Khan is the bigger name at this point and surely would sell more tickets. The risk/reward in fighting a tough but not extremely popular Thurman may not be ideal for Brook who himself is just entering the spotlight; therefore we may likely get another huge fight in England between two British fighters at Wembley stadium for the second year in a row.
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