Khan: I heard Kell Brook is fighting Bundu or Van Heerden next

By Boxing News - 07/19/2015 - Comments

khan333By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan is saying that he’s hearing that IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (35-0, 24 KOs) will be facing 40-year-old Leonard Bundu (32-1-2, 11 KOs) or Chris Van Heerden (23-1, 12 KOs) next rather than a top contender. Needless to say, Khan isn’t impressed at all with the possibility of brook facing one of these guys because he feels that Brook should be fighting the top names right now like Marcos Maidana and Tim Bradley rather than going for obscure bottom dwellers opponents. At some point, Brook will run out of voluntary defenses and be force to fight a live body.

Van Heerden is a fringe bottom contender not known for having much power. Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn hasn’t had much luck in trying to put a fight together between Brook and former IBF lightweight champion Brandon Rios for September.

Bundu and Van Heerden are a step below Rios in terms of talent in my view. But clearly Hearn isn’t aiming high in looking at those guys. If he’s picking those guys as possible opponents, then it seems obvious that he wants to make sure that Brook holds onto his IBF title for as long as possible.

Bundu was beaten by Keith Thurman last December by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision loss. Before that, Bundu barely beat Frankie Gavin by a 12 round split decision. Brook recently destroyed Gavin in his last fight. As such, if Brook faces Bundu, it would be pretty much the same as him fighting Gavin again.

“I’ve heard rumors that he [Brook] wants to fight Bundu next or Van Heerden,” Khan said to IFL TV. “He needs to go and fight some top level fighters.”

Oh my, look what Brook is now reduced to. It was bad enough that he was defending his title against Gavin and Jo Jo Dan, but now Bundu and Van Heerden? This is really bad. I think I’m starting to lose respect for Brook.

I don’t think we’re going to see Brook fight any top level guys. It looks like Hearn is going to take it easy with Brook until he can get a big money fight against the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao, Khan or Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. If none of those fights fall into Brook’s lap, then it won’t be surprising if the best we see from Brook is fights against the likes of Bundu, Van Heerden, Rios and Chris Algieri.

When asked if he’d be interested in facing Brook, Khan said “Why should I – when I’m financially secure myself, making good money fighting in America – why should I give Kell Brook that big payday by him fighting me?”

Well, if Khan is going to wait around until Brook fights “top level fighters”, he could be waiting around until he’s ol and gravy because I don’t see Brook ever doing that. Like I said, I think he’ll do it if it’s someone where he makes a ton of money and has nothing to lose like against Mayweather, Pacquiao, Khan or Canelo, but that’s about it. In other words, I don’t see Brook fighting guys like Keith Thurman, Marcos Maidana and definitely not Shawn Porter now that he knows how to stop fighters from clinching 10+ times per round.

Brook used constant round after round clinching to defeat Shawn Porter last year, but that trick won’t work a second time now that Porter knows how to defeat it by beating the stuffing out of his opponents while being held. Porter doesn’t just give up when his opponents grab him now.



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