If promoter Eddie Hearn gets his way, he’ll be putting together the Kell Brook vs. Amir Khan fight together by next week. Hearn says that he hopes he can get a deal done between the two British welterweights by next week now that Khan has been passed over by Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao for his April fight.
Hearn has impressed upon Khan the need to get the Brook fight done in the next couple of weeks or else he’ll miss out on the fight for the summer. It’s unclear who Hearn has waiting in the wings to match against Brook other than Kevin Bizier, but he seems to think that there’s a rush for Khan to make the fight.
“Amir’s not got the Pacquiao fight,” said Hearn to sports360.com. “I always felt Brook is the obvious choice, but Mayweather and Pacquiao were big fights for Khan and now they are not happening. I have said to Amir that if we don’t get this sorted in the next couple of weeks we will miss the boat for a summer fight.”
Khan seems to be more willing to take the fight with Brook now that he realizes that he’s missed out on the Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao fights. If Khan doesn’t take the fight with Brook now, he could wind up suffering a defeat eventually and that would in turn decrease fans interest in a fight between them.
Even Brook is in danger of eventually losing his IBF title, because contender Errol Spence will soon be fighting a final eliminator bout, and once he does that, he’ll be locked in as the mandatory for Brook. As good as Brook is, he would have his hands full against a fighter of Spence’s talent level. The American fighter is seen as the future of the welterweight division, and Brook doesn’t have that kind of talent unfortunately.
“Brook one million per cent wants the fight, now I believe Khan wants the fight, so we will meet next week and I believe we will get the deal done,” Hearn said.
Hearn sounds so sure of himself that he’s going to be able to get the Khan-Brook deal done by next week. It’s unknown if this is wishful thinking on Hearn’s part or if he really does believe what he’s saying.
There would be a lot of fan interest in the UK in a Khan vs. Brook fight. However, I’m not sure that the interest is as high as it would be if the fight took place a couple of years ago when Khan was still fighting frequently and more engaged with his career.
In the last couple of years, Khan has seemed only focused on getting money fights against Mayweather and Pacquiao instead of focusing on wanting to make a name for himself by fighting the best contenders and champions that were actually willing to fight him.