By Eric Flaherty: Amir Khan (34-5, 21 KOs) has some concerns about fighting Kell Brook (39-3, 27 KOs) because he doesn’t want to injure his face. Khan says he’d like to fight Brook, but he doesn’t want to be responsible for him losing an eye.
Although Khan admits that he dislikes Brook, he still doesn’t want to hurt him physically. Years ago, Brook suffered eye injuries in consecutive fights against Gennadiy Golovkin in 2016 and Errol Spence Jr in 2017.
Brook bounced back from those two losses to win three out of his last four fights, but he hasn’t regained the success that he had before.
Khan: I don’t want to break Brook’s face
“In boxing there’s a lot of punishment fighters take, but the punishment that Kell has taken in his career is life-changing,” said Khan to the Last Stand Podcast.
“He’s had both of his eye sockets broken. He could lose an eye, and he’s been operated on all in around his face. He had a tough fight against GGG, and then he had a tough fight against Spence.
“It’s not going to be good for you, and that’s why I think if that fight is ever to be made, I don’t want to be the one to break his face or hurt him in that way where he’s going to be hurt for the rest of his life.
“We may not like each other, but I’m not one of those guys. I’m a respectful guy and I know he has a family that he goes back home to.
“Let’s see how things play out in the next couple of weeks. I’m back in training and I want to see if that’s a fight that we both take.,” said Khan.
Brook, 35, made it through four rounds of his last fight against Terence Crawford without suffering a broken eye socket. However, Khan doesn’t punch with the same type of power that WBO welterweight champion Crawford does.
As such, if Brook came out of that fight injury-free, he should have little problems getting through a fight with Khan without suffering a fractured face.
Amir not a fan of exhibition fights
“I still have them,” said Khan when asked who has the fastest hands in boxing. “I’m telling you, I’m still the faster fighter ever.
“He’s alright; he’s a little bit slower than me,” Khan said about Gary Russell Jr. “Another fighter that thinks he’s faster than me is Ryan Garcia. So I look at his speed, ‘Oh, come on.’
“I’m not really a big fan of that exhibition thing,” said Khan. “Floyd Mayweather did it against Logan Paul.
“He couldn’t hurt Logan and it looked bad for him. He got a lot more hate because he couldn’t knock out a guy who’s worse than a journeyman,” said Khan.
It’ll be interesting to see if Khan chooses never to fight an exhibition match. You have to believe that as soon as Logan Paul finds out that Khan mentioned his name, he’ll challenge him to an exhibition fight.
With the huge money that Floyd supposedly made against Logan, it’ll be difficult for Khan to avoid the temptation of facing Logan.
Mayweather bragged last weekend that he made $100 million for his recent exhibition match with Paul. Yeah, boxing fans criticized Mayweather big time, but he doesn’t seem bothered at all about it. Instead, as the saying goes, he likely ‘cried all the way to the bank.’
