By Huck Allen: Amir Khan has three weeks to decide on activating the rematch clause in his contract to force a second fight against Kell Brook.
As most would guess, it would be impossible to market a second fight between Khan and Brook after how one-sided their mega-match was last weekend.
Boxxer CEO Ben Shalom doesn’t recommend that Khan (34-6, 21 KOs) take that step after being beaten last Saturday night by Brook (40-3, 28 KOs) at the Manchester Arena, but the option is there for Amir.
Khan hasn’t said anything about activating the rematch clause, so this is probably needless worry by Shalom.
Shalom says he’s heard talk that the 35-year-old Khan was “jet-lagged” for the fight with Brook. Hence, that would explain why his speed & movement wasn’t there for the contest.
Khan was immobile for large portions of the fight, standing directly in front of the bigger, stronger Brook, forced to trade with him.
Without punching power or great punch resistance, Khan would never win that fight. It was the same boat that Brook found himself in six years earlier when he was a stationary target for middleweight Gennadiy Golovkin in their fight in September 2016 at the O2 Arena in London.
While Brook moved well for the first three rounds, his legs abandoned him in the fourth, forcing him to fight toe-to-toe with the powerful Golovkin. In the fifth, Brook gave up the ship and stopped punching altogether.
“Amir Khan has a rematch clause in his contract,” Ben Shalom said to talkSPORT.
“It’s not something we would advise, and it’s something we don’t think Amir should do, but he does have that option.
“We have heard murmurs from his camp that he was jet-lagged and didn’t take Kell too seriously.
“I don’t think it will happen, but it’s not something in our control. He has three weeks to decide if he wants to fight him again. Technically he would be entitled to that rematch,” said Shalom about Khan.
Unless Khan is angry about his performance, it’s not likely that he will activate the rematch clause to fight Brook again.
If Khan weren’t already wealthy, he would likely activate the rematch clause to force a second fight with Brook.
However, with an estimated net worth of $40 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, Khan doesn’t need a second payday for a golden parachute to give him a soft landing in his retirement from boxing.
If $40 million isn’t enough for Khan and his family to live a life of leisure, what would be?
Assuming Khan does the reasonable thing and doesn’t activate the rematch clause, Brook has these options for his next fight:
- Conor Benn
- Chris Eubank Jr
- Keith Thurman
- Danny Garcia
Of those four, Eubank Jr. will likely be the former IBF welterweight champion Brook winds up facing next.
It’s not a great fight because Eubank Jr is so much bigger, but it’s likely the easier one to make compared to Conor Ben.
“He’s been called out by Chris by Conor. We’ve even had Danny Garcia and Thurman enquiring as to what’s going on,” said Shalom about options for Brook’s next fight.
