Barry Hearn believes that Amir Khan “is petrified” about facing Kell Brook, and although he understands his reasons for not taking the fight he wants to see it happen.
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Khan returns to the ring on Friday night as he faces Chris Algieri in Brooklyn, while Brook makes the second defence of his IBF welterweight title on Saturday against Frankie Gavin.
However, the fight that the fans want to see is Brook vs Khan, and although Matchroom made their best attempt at making the fight this summer, Khan opted to turn it down as he continues to pursue a dream bout against Floyd Mayweather.
Hearn insists that he understands Khan’s reasoning for not taking the fight, and has explained just how good he believes Brook is and why he is such a dangerous fight for his fellow Brit.
“I think Kell Brook is an amazing fighter. I think outside of Mayweather, he is without doubt the No 2 and maybe the No 1 welterweight in the world,” Hearn told Sky Sports.
“Khan is petrified about him, because if Khan gets beat by a Mayweather or a Pacquiao, he can still fight Kell Brook in his mind. His value is going down, but if he fights Kell Brook first and gets beat, then that’s probably the end of Amir Khan – and frankly we are a huge odds-on favourite for that fight.
“We have offered him almost treble the money he’s been making. He doesn’t want it and I don’t blame him necessarily. I think Amir Khan knows his boxing, I think he knows his chin and he knows that Kell Brook is a huge animal at welterweight.”
Khan received significant criticism for his decision to take on Algieri this weekend as many expect him to win comfortably and to win in style which will ensure that his hope of fighting Mayweather won’t be under threat.
Meanwhile, Brook has also been criticised for choosing to fight Gavin, although it is expected that the Sheffield-born fighter will take on Brandon Rios later this summer before a mega-fight to end the year with Manny Pacquiao’s name being mentioned on multiple occasions provided that he successfully recovers from shoulder surgery in time.
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