IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn says that former IBF/WBA 140 pound champion Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) is interested in facing Brook next year. Hearn says he wants to schedule the Brook vs. Khan fight next summer in 2015, and possibly stage at Wembley Stadium.
If that’s the case, Brook will have a chance to defend his title 1-2 times before he faces Khan. Hearn once again is saying that Khan-Brook will be as big as the Carl Froch vs. George Groves 2 fight that took place last May at Wembley Stadium in London. Hearn thinks it will sell out the 80,000 seat stadium.
“I am looking at next spring or summer in a fight, maybe at Wembley, which will be just as big as Froch-Groves. I’ve started talks on it,” Hearn said to the Dailymail.co.uk. “Khan is suddenly very interested in a fight. We are too. People from Showtime, who show Khan’s fights in the US, came into the dressing room after Kell won and said ‘let’s talk.’”
A fight between Khan and Brook will have a chance of selling out Wembley Stadium, but both guys need to face quality opponents later this year for them to make their fight huge. Khan hasn’t faced a good opponent since 2012 when he was beaten by Danny Garcia. Khan is talking about fighting either Devon Alexander or Robert Guerrero on December 6th.
A better choice would be Keith Thurman, but Khan’s not talking about wanting to fight him unfortunately. Brook will be fighting on the same date as Khan on December 6th, and Hearn is talking Brandon Rios, Josesito Lopez, Guerrero or Andre Berto.
Guerrero is the best of that bunch. Hearn won’t get Rios, because Top Rank wants to match him against Ruslan Provodnikov. Lopez and Berto are a huge step down from Brook’s last fight against Porter, so it’s a waste of time for him to fight either of those guys.
Hearn remains optimistic that he’ll be able to put together a Khan vs. Brook fight, but he also suggests that Khan won’t get the kind of money split that he would have been able to get in the past if he’d agreed to fight Brook before he won the IBF title.
“So long as Khan doesn’t demand an unrealistic split we should make it happen,” Hearn said. “I want to make this fight and I think it will be huge. Maybe Floyd Mayweather will feature down the line. Kell is certainly in that reckoning now.”
Hearn could end up losing the fight if he chooses to give Khan too small of a split. At this point I would doubt very much whether Khan would agree to a 50-50 purse split, because he’s still seen as the much bigger name and the more established fighter than Brook.
There won’t be a Mayweather fight if Brook can’t get past Khan.
