Britain’s biggest promoter Eddie Hearn, who looks after IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook, has poured scorn on suggestions that Floyd Mayweather will face his fighter for the final fight of his Showtime contract in September.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Hearn said of the suggestion;
“Kell Brook is not a big enough fight for Floyd Mayweather. Floyd doesn’t want to fight young lions and that includes Brook and Amir Khan.”
Although I would hardly call either fighter a “young” lion – (Brook is 29 and Khan 28) – Hearn is right when he says Floyd will not want to box Brook.
Mayweather has made it perfectly clear belts mean nothing anymore and so Brook’s IBF strap offers no allure whatsoever. Besides that he is simply nowhere near a big enough name to fight Floyd as besides hardcore fans over there, very few in America are even aware of the Sheffield fighter.
In their eyes – a fighter from the UK whose best win is against Shawn Porter is never going to bring the $$$’s in and the interest would be next to zero.
Khan, who has a far bigger American fan-base, is the more likely option and he has been trying to talk his way into a Mayweather fight for years but he has ruled himself out through Ramadan regardless.
Floyd Snr has announced he feels Khan is an “easy fight” for his son and many are speculating already as to whether Floyd really will hang them up after September. There have been suggestions he may not even fulfill his Showtime obligations – a notion Hearn also rubbished;
“He mentioned before the fight that this might be his last but he’ll definitely fight again. He never takes any punishment so it will be easy for him.”
Brook fights Frankie Gavin on May 30th in London and Khan fights Chris Algieri 24 hours beforehand in New York.
While both look unlikely to ever face Floyd, an all British clash at the end of the year between them would be huge if it could be put together.
Hearn has stated that he would like to bring Marquez or Brandon Rios to England later in the year to fight Brook. With Marquez’s ring future unclear it seems Rios is the most likely option although a December clash with Keith Thurman is another possible fight in the frame.
With the top 2 ostensibly all said and done at 147 it would seem that the welterweight division is about to open up…..
Twitter @Undilutedpoison
