By Scott Gilfoid: IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (35-0, 24 KOs) had recently been talking up a summer fight against Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) at Wembley Stadium in London, UK. Brook felt that a fight between him and Khan would have brought in 80,000 fans.
Unfortunately for Brook, he was shaken out of his pipe dream by Khan himself, who told the media today that he’s going to be fighting in March against an opponent still to be determined, and then he’ll be looking to fight the winner of the Danny Garcia vs. Robert Guerrero fight for the WBC welterweight title.
As such, Brook is not in Khan’s immediate plans in 2016. That doesn’t mean that Khan might not turn his attention to Brook later on in the year, because that’s certainly possible, but right now he’s mentioning Brook as being in his plans.
“Amir who? He’s been chasing the Mayweather and Pacquiao fight,” Brook said to skysports.com. “Garcia is a guy that has already knocked him out. If he fights him, he won’t be pulling the same amount of money he’d get fighting me in front of 80,000 fans in Wembley in the summer. It don’t get any better than that. If he [Khan] dislikes me that much, he has a chance to punch me in the face this summer. So let’s make it happen for the fans. He’s got nowhere else to run. I’ve got a world title here I’m ready to defend in the summer. If he fights Garcia, good luck to him. I just know I’ll be fighting a big name in the summer after I’ve dealt with Bizier,” Brook said.
I think Brook needs to seriously move on and forget all about getting a fight against Khan, because I don’t think he’s all that interested in the fight. Khan is more interested in fighters that are established big names in the U.S. The last time I checked, Brook is not an established big name over there.
Khan wants to fight big stars that have built their names by fighting and beating the best. That’s why he’s been after Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao for so long. Those guys are proven stars that have beaten the best throughout their long careers in the sport. When you look at the 29-year-old Brook’s 11-year resume, the only name that stands out is Shawn Porter. The other names are either fringe level fighters or 2nd tier fodder. Brook has an unbeaten record, to be sure, but he’s got there by a TON of soft match-making. Would Brook still be unbeaten if he had fought the likes of Mayweather, Pacquiao, Errol Spence Jr., Keith Thurman and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez? I think not.
Brook has a fight scheduled two months from now against his IBF mandatory challenger Kevin Bizier (25-2, 17 KOs) at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, UK. The fight will be televised on Sky, but it’s not a fight big enough to put it on Sky Box Office. However, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn sticks the Brook-Bizier mismatch on Sky Box Office and asks the British boxing public to pay to see it. I could see Hearn loading up the undercard of the Brook-Bizier fighter his Matchroom Sport fighters Tony Bellew, Kevin Mitchell, Lee Selby and Jamie McDonnell
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