In what has to be looked at as a pretty classless move, IBF welterweight champ Kell Brook wasted no time at all in taking to Twitter to call out Amir Khan. Yes, the same brave but ultimately outgunned Khan who was brutally knocked out by Saul Alvarez in Las Vegas a few hours ago. Brook, who no doubt watched the fight, sent his Tweet at just before 5 A.M UK time; not too long at all after the fight had ended so devastatingly.
“I’m here all British showdown @amirkingkhan,” he wrote.
Hey, Kell, how about waiting just a little while, just to make sure Khan is okay before challenging him to a fight in a Tweet he is hardly likely to read anyway?
Just why Brook is so clearly obsessed with Khan is a mystery (yes they had some issues/rivalry as youngsters when they sparred years ago, but talk about Brook holding a grudge!). And why would a peaking fighter, one who claims to be the best in the world in his weight class (and may well be) be calling out a 155-pounder who just got knocked out by a middleweight and might not even drop back down to 147 anyway (although Khan says he probably will do, he might find the task of shedding too much muscle detrimental to him and could conceivably opt to fight as a 154-pounder again).
Of course a Khan-Brook fight would make plenty of money in the UK, and maybe that’s what it’s all about for Brook, and this is why he seemingly cannot let this fight go. But how much credit would Brook get if he beat Khan now, in his very next fight? Doesn’t Khan deserve a tune-up if he is to compete again at welterweight? Khan would certainly be foolish to jump right back in there with Brook after suffering such a brutal KO. Wouldn’t it serve Brook better to be calling out a Danny Garcia or a Jesse Vargas (to be fair, two fights he does say he wants also) and not a fighter still in the hospital?
Maybe a Khan-Brook British super-fight will happen one day, but not this year. Khan deserves some breathing space as much as he deserves respect for his brave challenge of the much bigger and harder-punching Canelo. With his reflex callout, Brook has not given Khan that respect.