WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman spoke with Sky Sports recently and he stated how WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia will defend his title in a rematch with Amir Khan next year. Sulaiman said that as Khan is currently injured (his hand, which underwent an operation recently) Garcia will make a voluntary defence this October before defending against Khan, the WBC no-1 contender, after that.
“Unfortunately, Amir Khan has an injury in his hand that required surgery so he’ll be out for the rest of the year,” Sulaiman said.
“Khan is the mandatory for the division so we will wait until he’s healed and ready to fight. Absolutely [Garcia will fight in the meantime]. He’s a champion and can’t wait for challengers to heal so Garcia will be active. I believe Garcia will be defending in October and then we’ll see when Khan is ready for it.”
As fans know, Garcia crushed Khan inside four exciting rounds down at 140-pounds in 2012. A rematch will prove interesting, but in light of the first result and Khan’s nasty KO loss against Canelo Alvarez, and the damage it may have done to Khan, “Swift” will be a prohibitive favourite to win the return. It’s not clear who Garcia may fight in October, but former champ Andre Berto’s name had been mentioned a few times. Khan will likely take a warm-up, or tune-up bout on his ring return, possibly in January, but after that it could be Garcia-Khan II.
Some fight fans will look forward to this fight, while others would rather see Garcia get in there with a Keith Thurman, a Manny Pacquiao or a Shawn Porter. British fans still have an urge to see a domestic blockbuster between Khan and Kell Brook. Brook says he may campaign as a 154-pounder from here on in, while Khan fought Canelo at 155 and may well feel he can stay at that weight. But Garcia is a target Khan has spoken of aiming for and assuming he can get back down to 147 and be effective, that return will be Khan’s main goal.
It seems we will never get to see Khan and Brook get it on, either at 147 or at 154.
