Amir Khan says the most important fight to him right now is a return meeting with Danny Garcia. WBC welterweight champ Garcia – who faces big underdog Samuel Vargas on Saturday night in Philadelphia and is set to meet WBA welterweight champ Keith Thurman in a big unification showdown in March of next year – shocked Khan when they fought down at 140 in 2012.
Since suffering the 4th-round stoppage loss, Khan has craved a shot at revenge. Right now, even though preliminary talks between Khan and British rival Kell Brook have begun, Khan says he would put that fight on the back-burner in favor of a shot at revenge against Garcia. Khan says “Swift” is trying his best to avoid a rematch with him.
“The Brook fight is always going to be there for me, so if the Garcia rematch was on the table, I think I’d take that first,” Khan told Chris McKenna of The Star. “The Brook fight is a big one for the fans, but I’d take the Garcia fight first because there is unfinished business there. I know he’s trying to run from me, so if that fight did suddenly present itself I’d have to grab it with both hands.”
But will the Brook fight always be there for Khan? If Khan got the Garcia rematch and wound up losing by stoppage for a second time to the same man, wouldn’t the Brook fight lose a great deal of it’s luster? On the other hand of course, if Khan were able to reverse the loss to Garcia, and win a welterweight title or two, the Brook fight would be even bigger. But in reality, how good a chance has Khan got of getting a return with Garcia?
Garcia seems to have moved on too far from the 2012 win, what with the big Thurman fight coming up. Why would Garcia want to go over old ground? Khan and Brook have delayed their all-British super-fight for long enough and it’s time they got it on before it’s too late. If Khan-Brook doesn’t happen next summer, will the big amount of fan interest fade or disappear completely?
Khan should be commended for wanting revenge so badly (although he never appeared so desperate to try and get revenge over Breidis Prescott, who smashed him inside a round way back in 2008!) but that Garcia fight isn’t anywhere near as practical a fight to make as the Brook match-up, which seems like an obvious fight for a big stadium in the UK next summer.