Amir Khan wants to fight Kell Brook at Old Trafford

By Boxing News - 04/01/2021 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Amir Khan wants to fight Kell Brook at Old Stafford football stadium in Manchester, and he’s hoping that Eddie Hearn can put the match together.

It’s going to take a lot of persuading and some groveling by Khan for him to lure Brook into the ring. Brook is jaded at this point, having been ignored by Khan for too many years while trying to set up fights against him.

Even Hearn seems less than thrilled at the thought of putting together the Khan vs. Brook fight now because knows how huge that fight could have been if they made it in 2015.

Brook = Khan’s last hope for a big payday

Having run out of options for nice paydays, Khan (34-5, 21 KOs) is using his last card in his deck in reaching for a fight against Brook (39-3, 27 KOs).

Khan was chasing money fights Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr for a number of years, but nothing came of his pursuit. All the years that Khan spent trying to get those two to fight him, he could have fought Brook and made millions.

Image: Amir Khan wants to fight Kell Brook at Old Trafford

Khan, 34, feels there’s still a lot of interest by boxing fans in the Brook fight, but that might be wishful thinking.

Brook hasn’t been the same fighter he once was suffering an eye injury in his loss to Gennadiy Golovkin in 2016.

He suffered an additional injury in his fight after that against Errol Spence Jr in 2017, and since then, Brook’s only wins have come against fringe contenders.

“I think now is the right time to make that fight happen with Kell,” said Khan to Sky Sports. “We both have been world champions. We’re both British and in the north as well. Imagine making a huge fight like that happen at the Old Trafford football stadium. It would be a massive fight.

“Look, we’re ready to take it, and I think it will be good for boxing, especially to settle the score and put him in his place,” Khan said.

What could be giving former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Khan confidence that he can win the fight is how bad Brook looked last November in his loss to WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford.

Kell has outgrown the 147-lb division

Brook looked weight drained in coming down to 147 to challenge Crawford for his WBO title, and he was quickly taken out in the fourth round.

It’s safe to assume that if Khan fights Crawford, he’ll insist on him coming down to 147. If Brook does meltdown to welterweight, Khan will have an excellent chance of beating him.

“Look, I’m still up there in the top 10, in the world,” Khan said. “Getting a world title fight I don’t think will be a problem.

Khan is ranked #1 with the World Boxing Council at 147, but he surely won’t be winning a world title against WBC champion Errol Spence Jr. That wouldn’t likely be competitive at all.

Image: Amir Khan wants to fight Kell Brook at Old Trafford

The only champions that Khan might have a slight chance of beating is WBA belt-holder Yordenis Ugas, but that’s not likely. Ugas is an excellent fighter, and he’s performing at a higher level than Khan in his recent fights.

Besides that, Ugas is expected to take on Spence this summer. That likely outcome of that fight is Spence winning by knockout to become a three-belt champion at welterweight.

If Khan can stay active and win a few fights, he might get a title shot against Errol Spence.

That would pay well, but he’s got to stay active and he hasn’t been doing that. Khan last fought in 2019 against former lightweight Billy Dib. Before that, Khan was stopped by Crawford in six rounds.

There’s more money for Khan in fighting Brook than if he were to take on Spence as a challenger. The magic question is how does Khan convince Brook to fight him?