Khan & Brook are too dangerous for Mayweather & Pacquiao, says Malignaggi

By Boxing News - 04/27/2015 - Comments

floyd300By Scott Gilfoid: IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook and former IBF/WBA 140 pound champ Amir Khan would both like nothing better than to get big money fights against the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. before they step away from the sport and go off into the sunset into retirement in the near future.

Showtime analyst Paulie Malignaggi doesn’t see either of those two guys getting the fights they want against Mayweather or Pacquiao.

Malignaggi thinks Khan and Brook are too dangerous for Mayweather and Pacquiao, and for that reason he sees them getting ignored.

The main reason I feel that Khan and Brook aren’t going to get fights against Mayweather and Brook is due to the poor opposition that Khan and Brook have been fighting for most of their careers. I mean, look at the guys Khan is fighting: Carlos Molina, Julio Diaz, Chris Algieri, Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander. There are absolutely no risky opponents among those names.

Brook is no better with the guys he’s been facing. These are the last five guys that Brook has fought: Jo Jo Dan, Shawn Porter, Alvaro Robles, Vyacheslav Senchenko and Carson Jones. Brook will be fighting Frankie Gavin next month on May 30th. If someone was to write an instruction manual in how not to get fights against Mayweather and Pacquiao, they would follow the match-making that has been done for Khan and Brook as examples of how to match someone if you don’t want them to get the big money fights against Mayweather and Pacquiao.

It is difficult to see Khan and Brook getting fights against those two superstars, but not for the reason Malignaggi thinks. It’s probably more of a case of Brook and Brook not presenting a big enough upside for it to be worth it for them. I mean, Khan and Brook aren’t exactly huge stars in the United States, and neither of them are what you would call household names over there.

Pretty much the only people that have heard of Khan and Brook in the U.S are the hardcore boxing fans. These two guys don’t have built in fan bases like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Miguel Cotto. For that reason, it just doesn’t make any sense for Mayweather and Pacquiao to burn up some of their valuable fights facing guys that don’t register with the American public.

“I think both guys [Brook and Khan] present too much danger,” Malignaggi said via skysports.com. “Mayweather and Pacquiao won’t fight them. I don’t see it happening. I think if Floyd reaches the crescendo and wins this fight, I think you might see Floyd more so leaning towards retirement, as opposed to Pacquiao. If he wants to fight, he will fight everybody.

I think Malignaggi is wrong about Pacquiao potentially fighting Khan. It’s not likely to happen due to Khan being with Al Haymon, his famous adviser. I can’t see Haymon working with Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum. Khan-Pacquiao definitely won’t happen due to Haymon and Arum not working together, Mayweather-Khan fight likely won’t happen because Khan doesn’t bring anything to the table as far as having a fan base in the United States.

“I think if there’s a shot for Amir or any of them, I think it will be Pacquiao,” Malignaggi said. “I don’t see Floyd taking on another tough challenge. He has taken on plenty of them and will probably be looking more at going off into the sunset.”

I don’t rate Khan or Brook as being tough fights for Mayweather or Pacquiao. In fact, I see them as easy fights. I think Shawn Porter was robbed against Brook, as I had him beating him. I rate Porter as a tougher fight for Mayweather and Pacquiao than Brook. Khan is an easy fight for both of the superstars as well as long as a good referee is working the fights in order to keep Khan from shoving, holding and hitting, pulling down on the head and putting them in head-locks 24/7.



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