Khan criticized for rehydration clause for Brook fight

By Boxing News - 11/04/2018 - Comments

Image: Khan criticized for rehydration clause for Brook fight

By Tim Royner: Dave Coldwell thinks Amir Khan is showing that he’s deeply fearful of Kell Brook with his demand for both a 10 lb rehydration clause and for him needing to come down to 147 lbs before he’ll agree to a fight in early 2019.

Since Brook rehydrates into the 170s and weighs roughly the same amount as former middleweght champion Gennady Golovkin, it’s one of the reasons why Khan is asking for a 10 lb rehydration clause. Brook is like a small middleweight, and Khan can’t risk getting knocked out again by another fighter in that weight class. In 2016, Khan was knocked unconscious by Saul Canelo Alvarez in a fight that took place at middleweight. Khan was badly hurt by Canelo, who looked much heavier than him after he rehydrated.

Khan (33-4, 20 KOs) and Brook’s mutual promoter Eddie Hearn is trying to iron out a deal for them to face each other in the first three months of 2019, but he’s not confident he can get the deal done because of the rehydration clause that Khan is asking for before he’ll sign for the fight. From Khan’s perspective, he just wants to make sure that he’s not outweighed by 15 to 20 pounds on the night by the 32-year-old Brook (37-2 26 KOs), which is perfectly understandable.

Khan agreeing to let Brook take the fight without a rehydration clause would mean that he would be fighting a guy that comes into the fight with a tremendous weight advantage over him. It would be like Brook signing up for a fight against super middleweight champion Callum Smith, who rehydrates to the mid-180s for his fights in the 168 lb weight vision. Brook would be too light to take on a puncher like Smith, and it wouldn’t a fight due to the size difference between them. If Khan agrees to let Brook fight without a rehydration clause, he would put himself at risk of being knocked out badly by a much heavier fighter.

“Does that not tell you that he don’t think he can beat Kell Brook,” Dave Coldwell said to IFL TV. “You want to draw him down to 147. Everyone knows he’s going to be weak at 147. Kell says, ‘I’m doing it at 147.’ Then he [Khan] says, ‘I want a 10 lb weight clause.’ because he can’t put too much weight after. Man, do you think you can beat him or not? He obviously doesn’t think he can beat him. I get that. He’s worried about getting beat, and having to face all his fans and his friends. I understand that because there’s been so much bad blood,” Coldwell said.

Coldwell is comfortable with Brook not fighting with a 10 lb rehydration clause, but he’s not the one that is going to be getting punched in the face by him all night long. Khan is the one that will have to take the big shots by Brook from the much heavier. Since it’s Brook that wants to fight a guy so much smaller than him in Khan, he needs to agree to the 10 lb rehydration clause. Unless Brook and Hearn can pressure Khan to give up on his idea of the rehydration limit, they’re going to have to agree to what he’s asking for. Brook can always try and entice some of the welterweights to fight him if he’s unwilling to fight guys his own size from the junior middleweight division. However, it’s unlikely that any of the top welterweights will want to fight Brook without a rehydration limit as well. Knowing how heavy Brook gets after he rehydrates, it would be foolish for any of the top welterweights to fight hi unles he agrees to limit how much weight he puts back on. One way of keeping Brook from rehyrating into the 170s is to get him to agree to a weight class.

“Both men realize they can’t show their face if they get beat by this guy,” Coldwell said. “But come on, this [the 10 lb rehydration clause] tells everybody on the outside that you don’t [think you can win]. Everybody I’ve spoken to has said the same thing. It’s not just me. It’s a joke that just shows you that he don’t want to fight. He wants him to be depleted. It takes away any chance of him knocking him out. He [Khan] can just go out there and beat a shell. You can’t do that in this fight,” Coldwell said about Khan insisting on a 10 lb rehydration clause.

Khan and Brook have both been stopped more than once. I don’t think that’s the reason that is stopping Khan from signing for the fight with Brook. Khan wants to make sure that the two are fairly even in the weight on fight night. Obviously, there’s little chance that Brook will be below 170s lbs on the night after he rehydrates, but if Khan can make sure that he delays rehydrating until after the secondary weigh-in on the morning of the fight, then there’s a chance that he’ll be slightly weakened. Brook will still be powerful when he gets inside the ring with Khan even if he makes weight for the secondary weigh-in, but he likely won’t be as powerful as he would be without a rehydration clause. Khan will likely want a stiff rehydration penalty to make sure that Kell doesn’t blow off the secondary weigh-in.

“It’s not for the IBF title. It’s not a title fight,” Coldwell said. “It’s a big domestic showdown that’s been bubbling for ages. It’s gone off the boil. You’ve got two fighters there that just fight each other. Just get it done,” Coldwell said.

It doesn’t matter that the IBF title won’t be on the line for the fight. Khan wants the 10 lb rehydration clause for the fight, and he’s the A-side in the fight. If Brook wants the fight with Khan, he’ll need to agree to the rehydration clause. It would be the same thing if someone like Golovkin decided he wanted to fight a welterweight. It would be crazy for the fight to take place without a rehydration limit.

“Kell said he’s willing to go back down to 147,” Coldwell said. “That’s a big statement. That’s a give away in itself, because it’s going to kill him [Brook]. Khan has been fantastic. He’s had a great career. He’s done so much. He’s been brilliant. His last fight was against a guy he shouldn’t have been exciting against,” Coldwell said about Khan’s life and death struggle against Samuel Vargas.

“I think both of them [Khan and Brook] are past their best,” Coldwell said. “Get it done. He’s making himself look bad asking for that,” Coldwell said in continuing to complain about the 10 lb rehydration clause that Khan is asking for in the fight with Brook. “For the 10 lb rehydration clause, it’s putting a big red light, saying, ‘I don’t think I can win. I want to give myself every chance to win.’ What I think, and it’s what a lot of people have said to me as well, ‘just get the fight done.’ Everyone wants to see it. If the fight gone done tomorrow, people would be all for it. ‘I’m not going to watch it.’ Blah, blah, blah. But when it comes to the fight, everyone will watch it, because you want to see it. Will Khan outbox him? Will Khan knock him out? You want to see it. It’s just unfortunate they’re not at their peaks. The more it gets delayed, the worst it’s going to be,” Coldwell said.

It would be better for Brook to agree to the conditions that Khan wants sooner rather than later. There’s no reason for Khan to agree to fight Brook and put himself at a huge disadvantage by letting him rehydrate to the 170s.

It’s going to take a lot of work for Brook to make the 147 lb weight at this point in his career. He should worry about that. It’s going to be hard enough for Brook to make the 147 lb limit.

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