By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan isn’t worried about IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook right now. He’s got bigger fish to fry against the tank-like WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who Khan faces next month in less than 30 days on May 7 on HBO PPV.
It’s a dangerous for Khan that could result in him getting his head taken off if he’s not careful in the ring. It’s also a fight that could bring Khan a bucket full of sweet cash if the fight brings in over 1 million PPV buys on HBO.
It could easily be Khan’s biggest payday of his career. The money that Khan could get for facing Brook would likely pale in comparison due to the huge audience of potential buyers for Khan vs. Canelo in the States on PPV.
Khan has already made it clear who he wants next after the Canelo fight. Khan says he wants to fight for the WBC welterweight title against Danny Garcia. Khan is the #1 WBC mandatory for Danny Garcia, and that’s a fight that he definitely wants because of his desire to avenge his loss to him from 2012. If Brook wants a fight against Khan, he’s going to need to do a whole lot of waiting.
Brook isn’t in the position to be looking for a Khan fight because until he proves himself against his new #1 IBF mandatory challenger Errol Spence Jr. (20-0, 17 KOs), who called him out last Saturday night after his demolition job on Chris Algieri, then he’s not going to be able to move forward for the bigger fights. I mean, how can you get excited about seeing Brook fight Khan with Brook’s resume filled largely with no names?
Brook needs his first solid win of his career and you cannot count his victory over Shawn Porter due to Brook choosing to hold all night long rather than let his hands go. I see that fight as more of non-passing grade for Brook because he used a stall tactic in that fight by electing to grab Porter and hold each time he was within grabbing range. It was pretty sad to watch. When you remember all the greats of the sports in how they would slug it out or show boxing skills in the ring. Then you have Brook holding Porter all night long each time he would get near him.
“I’m going to see how it goes and the Kell Brook fight might or might not happen,” said Khan to the dailystar.co.uk. “He’s on his own path and I’m on my own path. I’m fighting the big names in boxing in the big arenas and Kell Brook has it a different way – he’s fighting Jo Jo Dan, Frankie Gavin and Kevin Bizier. I’m in the big fights and he’s not.”
I have to agree with Khan. Brook isn’t fighting the same type of opposition that Khan is right now. I don’t expect Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn to all of a sudden do something risky by putting Brook in with Spence now. I don’t see Hearn matching Brook against someone really good. However, if Brook wants to make a name for himself in a hurry, then he needs to persuade Hearn to let him fight the likes of Keith Thurman, Gennady Golovkin, Jermall Charlo, Porter, or Daniel Jacobs.
It’s got to be someone that would be considered the favorite over Brook so that he can potentially shock the world while at the same time showing his courage by taking on someone that he’s not expected to beat. Do I see Hearn doing that? Nope. My guess is Hearn will drag out someone like Frankie Gavin for a rematch or Paulie Malignaggi for the so-called stadium fight against Brook in the summer.
“If it doesn’t happen I’m not really bothered about it, it doesn’t affect my career,” said Khan.
By the time Khan is willing to fight Brook, the “Special one” may have already been forced to fight Spence and will have been knocked out by the talent. The result of that is Khan will move in another direction rather facing the beaten Brook.