WBC Silver welterweight champion Amir Khan (30-3, 19 knockouts) hasn’t made many friends as of late. The English boxer, who is looking to claim his second world championship in as many divisions, believes that Kell Brook (34-0, 23 knockouts) badly wants a fight with him because he is ducking top welterweight contenders. By Khan’s logic, Brook, the current IBF welterweight champion, is afraid of losing to one of the top dogs in the division, like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., so he wants to earn as much money as he can in the sport before he loses.
The 28-year old Brook fought Jo Jo Dan on March 28 in a mandatory matchup and stopped him inside the fourth round. Khan was likely not impressed by the performance and will make a statement in the impending future about how terrible of a matchup it was, which will proceed with more excuses not to fight Kell Brook.
Khan will have to be honest with himself about his past opponents and performances. Since getting stopped by Danny Garcia, Khan has yet to be truly tested. He couldn’t finish Julio Diaz, something Keith Thurman was able to do in three rounds. He says he wants the best, but by choosing to fight guys like Chris Algieri, it makes it puzzling to figure out how he expects to get a fight with Mayweather or Pacquiao.
His statements have been contradicting, so it’s important he surrounds himself with a team of people who can speak for him. However, his vainglorious approach to business might not be much of a help.
I don’t know if Khan has a public relations correspondent, but he needs one badly if that’s the case. By stating that Brook only wants to fight him because he’s afraid of losing to the top fighters in the division, indicates to me that Khan doesn’t see himself as a top fighter. If you don’t have confidence in this sport, you’re not going to get a shot at the best, period.
I don’t see Khan fighting Brook within a year like he promised. It may be a while, or it may never happen at all. Khan –over and over again – has proven to have a weak chin and articulate fighters know how to expose him. Khan beat Devon Alexander easily. Shawn Porter beat Devon Alexander easily. Those are two offensive fighters. As we know, styles make fights, and Kell Brook disposed of a trigger happy Shawn Porter in August 2014. The difference is that Porter can take a punch; he walked into right hands for a majority of the evening. Khan on the other hand? Forget about it – at least until he learns how to not get hit after throwing a series of punches. Stylistically, Brook-Khan looks like a mismatch.
