By Scott Gilfoid: Eddie Hearn says the three biggest fights that he wants to see take place in 2018 is Kell Brook vs. Amir Khan, Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder and Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Daniel Jacobs.
Hearn promotes Brook, Khan, Joshua and Jacobs, which is why he’s include them. Of those three, the only one that has a reasonable chance of happening is Brook vs. Khan. Both of those guys are at a dead-end career-wise, as neither of them is likely going to be able to win world titles in their respective weight classes. As such, it’s important for Brook and Khan to cash out with a big payday before they walk away from the sport. I get the sense that Hearn realizes that, which is why he’s not chomping at the bit to throw them in with world champions like Jarett Hurd and Errol Spence Jr. Nothing good could come of Brook fighting Hurd or Khan facing Spence. I’m just saying.
”AJ v Wilder, Brook v Khan, Canelo v Jacobs,” Hearn said on his Twitter when asked which important fights he wants to take place in 2018.
Let’s look a Hearn’s pipe dream of three fights for 2018:
• Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder – The chances of this fight taking place are rather limited due Joshua insisting that it take place in the UK despite the fact Wilder’s management is offering him $50 million to take the fight. The boxing fans want to see the fight, but Joshua seems to be timid about leaving the UK and fighting abroad in front of a foreign audience. Is this is a sign of mental weakness on Joshua’s part? Well, you can be the judge of that. Boxing greats in the past like Lennox Lewis had no problems fighting outside of his own country, but for some reason Joshua can’t or won’t do it. You kind of have to wonder what’s going to happen in the future when Joshua need to dig deep in one of his fights when things are going his way. Will Joshua show heart and tough it out or will he crumble mentally because he doesn’t have the fans cheering him on?
• Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Daniel Jacobs – Even though Golden Boy Promotions boss Oscar De La Hoya has been mentioning Jacobs as an option for Canelo Alvarez’s next fight on September 15, it’s highly unlikely the fight will take place. I believe that Jacobs is merely being used as a tool by De La Hoya to attempt to get Triple G to come in at the nice price, whatever that is. It’s certainly not the reported 50-50 purse split that Golovkin is asking for to face the popular – but limited size-wise – 27-year-old Canelo. Jacobs’ chances of getting a fight against Canelo are slim and none. I’m hoping Hearn doesn’t get too worked up about the fight, because when it fails to happen, he’s going to be down in the dumps. Hearn needs to see De La Hoya’s name dropping of Jacobs for what it is – a ploy to get Golovkin to drop his asking price for the Canelo rematch. Let’s face it; Jacobs brings no money to Canelo, but he does bring plenty of risk. Oh boy, does Jacobs bring risk to Canelo, and that’s why he’s not going to get the fight. If Canelo could make over $20 million fighting Jacobs, then he’d likely take the fight in a second, but he obviously can’t.
• Amir Khan vs. Kell Brook – This would be a good fight between past their prime former world champions, both of which are at the last chance saloon. There’s a lot of interest from UK boxing fans in see Khan and Brook fight, but much less so from U.S fans. The American fans want to see Khan fight the guy that destroyed Brook and made him quit last year in Errol Spence. The U.S fans also want to see Brook fight Jarrett Hurd, Jaime Munguia and Jermell Charlo. There’s not much interest from American fans in seeing Brook fight a shot Amir Khan. That’s a non-starter. Hearn is targeting Brook v. Khan for the UK audiences, but the American fans aren’t excited at seeing this one. Hearn can make it happen if he leans on Khan enough. He’s the one that is holding up the show to get it made. If Hearn is unable to put this fight together in 2018, then Brook will likely take a soft job in July, and then after that he might bite the bullet and face Hurd, Charlo or Munguia. All three of those champions are willing to give Brook a title shot despite the fact that he’s only fought once in the weight class against Sergey Rabchenko, a fringe contender. Brook might want to wait on Khan, but he’s got too much of a competitive instinct to stall his career by fighting fodder for the next year or two waiting for him to face him. If Brook is serious about wanting to compete at 154 for the remainder of his career, then he needs to fight Hurd, Munguia or Charlo in 2018 if he can’t get the Khan fight. If Brook moved back down to 147, he would have an excellent chance of winning the WBC title by facing the winner of the Shawn Porter vs. Danny Garcia fight. But at 154, it’s obviously tougher for Brook to try and win a title against one of the champions in that weight class. Frankly, I see Brook getting knocked out by Munguia, Charlo and Hurd. Brook isn’t durable enough to take the shelling from stronger fighters. Once those guys start putting hands on Brook, he’ll likely crumble like pottery under the blasts. If I was Brook, I would get a good nutritionist and hire a track coach and work with them to get my weight down to where I could make 147. Brook is making a mistake by fighting at 154. As soon as he faces one of those three, it’s game over for Brook in my view. I don’t think Brook could beat Erislandy Lara, Erickson Lubin, Liam Smith, Liam Williams or Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams. That’s not a knock on Brook. I just think he’s too small to beat the solid natural junior middleweights, who have bigger frames than him.