Tim Royner: Eddie Hearn is pretty excited at the prospects of Manny Pacquiao fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr., as it now opens up the possibility of Amir Khan facing Kell Brook in December. Up until last week, Khan (33-4, 20 KOs) had been a strong option for Pacquiao’s next fight. That’s now changed with Mayweather saying that he’s returning to the ring for a rematch against Pacquiao.
Although the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is now being talked about for early 2019, Pacquiao is still unlikely to take a potentially difficult fight against Khan before that. It would be too risky of a fight for Pacquiao (Pacquiao (60-7-2, 39 KOs) to risk his WBA welterweight title facing someone with the hand speed and talent of Khan. There’s too much money on the line for Pacquiao with the Mayweather fight just over the bend in early 2019.
“Pacquiao’s guys have been in touch and said, ‘look, we’re still interested in the Khan fight,’ but the Mayweather fight is obviously their preference,” Hearn said to IFL TV.
Hearn shouldn’t get too happy about thinking that Khan vs. Brook is now in line for December. Khan, 31, could decide not to take a risky fight against Brook in order not to mess up a big payday against Pacquiao in 2019. Even if Pacquiao loses to Mayweather in the first half of 2019, he can still fight Khan in the second half of next year and make good money in that fight. That would be a big fight between Khan and Pacquiao. Brook will likely wait until late 2019 or early 2020 to fight Khan. Brook isn’t going to take any risky fights against the good junior middleweights like Jarrett Hurd or Jermell Charlo. Brook is going to wait until he fights Khan before he starts looking to take on the tough 154 pound fighters.
“I don’t think so, but you never know with Mayweather,” Hearn said in casting doubt whether Mayweather will fight Pacquiao again. “If the Khan-Pacquiao fight can’t get made, it’s great news for Khan-Brook, because Amir wants a massive fight, and Khan-Brook is one of the biggest out there.”
There’s not as much interest in a Khan vs. Brook fight as Eddie thinks there is. The boxing fans want to see Khan fight guys that are relevant for their respective divisions, and Brook is in no man’s land with him having given up on the welterweight division after his loss to Errol Spence last year. Brook moved up to 154, but he’s been slow in taking on the lions in the division in Charlo and Hurd despite both calling him out.
