By Dan Ambrose: Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) says he’s interested in taking on the winner of the May 27th fight between IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook and Errol Spence Jr. or Keith Thurman. Khan wants to take a tune-up fight first in his next bout. After the tune-up match, Khan says he’ll be involved in a tremendous fight in the end of the year against a big name. Khan’s tune-up fight is expected to take place in the next 2-3 months.
Khan expects Spence to beat Brook in their fight at Bramall Lane in Sheffield. England. However, he still sees it as a potentially hard fight for Spence due to him fighting in Brook’s hometown in front of a pro-Brook crowd.
Khan, 30, had surgery on his right hand recently, and he’s not seen action in 10 months since his 6th round knockout loss to former WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on May 7 in 2016. Khan took a big risk in moving up to middleweight to fight the heavier Canelo, and he ended up getting knocked unconscious in round 6. It was a bad knockout for Khan, with him out cold after getting hit by a right hand that he didn’t see coming.
“With Brook, he’s got great timing,” said Khan to esnewsreporting.cmo. “You can never take that away from him. Fighting at home is one advantage. I think Spence will win. He just needs to control his nerves, because with Spence going to the UK, knowing that he’s not going to have the fans on his side. The winner of that fight would be amazing. Keith Thurman would be an amazing fight for me. For me stylistically, that would be a great fight,” said Khan.
Khan will have problems against Spence, Brook or Thurman, because all three of them are big punchers. Spence and Thurman would figure to be the toughest for Khan. Brook might be a winnable fight for Khan if he can use movement against him. Brook needs to set his feet for him to throw with a lot of power. When Brook is moving around the ring, he’s not a particularly big puncher. Khan would have to watch for Brook’s uppercuts because he likes to throw those shots frequently. Brook even throws uppercuts when his opponents are on the outside, which leaves him open sometimes.
“I’d like a tune-up fight to test out my right hand. The Pacquiao fight was supposed to happen, but it didn’t happen,” said Khan. “I’ve got Berto winning that one [against Shawn Porter]. I’ve been out of the ring for a year. I’m going to talk to Al Haymon. I’ve got to take a tune-up fight. Hopefully by the end of the year, I want a big fight. It’s my time to shine right now. Manny being the No.1 welterweight in the world, it would have given me the opportunity to win a world title again, and then go on and take on big names like Keith Thurman and the winner of Spence and Brook. I need a tune-up fight to test the hand properly. Maybe take a fight in the UK, and then go straight into a massive fight at the end of the year against someone big,” said Khan.
Khan’s fight against Pacquiao didn’t happen because the businessman that were supposed to put up $38 million for fight to take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) failed to come up with the money for the fight. Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum decided to take him in another direction instead of pursuing the Khan fight. Whether Arum could have still salvaged the Pacquiao-Khan fight is debatable. Arum is rumored to be looking to match Pacquiao against Jeff Horn next. If Pacquiao loses that fight, then there’s no real reason for Khan to try and fight him later this year. Pacquiao will no longer be the WBO welterweight champion, and he’ll be viewed as over-the-hill.
Khan is one of many fighters that think Danny Jacobs beat IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in their fight on March 18 on HBO PPV at Madison Square Garden in New York. Golovkin won the fight after knocking Jacobs down in round 4, and spending the last 8 rounds hitting him with his power jab over and over. Golovkin’s punching power is so impressive that even his jab is very hard. Jacobs’ head was snapping back like he was getting hit with Golovkin’s power shots all night long.
Khan is picking Saul Canelo Alvarez to beat Golovkin if the two of them fight each other in September. Right now, it’s not looking good for that fight because of Golovkin’s low PPV totals for the Jacobs fight. Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya says he’s going to factor in those low PPV totals with his new offer to Golovkin.
“Danny pulled it off,” said Khan about Jacobs’ fight against Golovkin. “He never gave up in that whole fight. He got caught with a few bombs as well and came back stronger. I have to give it to Danny for standing up to Triple G’s power, even though he got put down. This is boxing for you. That was more of a flash knockdown. The way he came back, he was catching Triple G with some big shots. He had him under a little bit of pressure. I gave it to Danny by 1 or 2 rounds. Danny definitely belongs up there with the best in the middleweight division. I think with Jacobs, he showed the blueprint in how to beat Triple G. I think Canelo beats Triple G for sure,” said Khan.