By Radio Rahim

Promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport was not surprised when Amir Khan (31-4, 19KOs) suffered a brutal sixth round knockout at the hands of Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez last month in Las Vegas.

Khan, who was competing at welterweight, moved up by eight pounds to face Canelo at catch-weight of 155-pounds for the WBC middleweight championship at the T-Mobile Arena.

Khan vs. Canelo caught everyone by surprise, especially Hearn, who at the time was attempting to finalize a big domestic blockbuster between Khan and IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-0, 25KOs).

Khan started very well against Canelo and won the early rounds. The Mexican superstar started getting a little closer, inch by inch, in the fifth round. During the sixth, Canelo connected with a huge shot - right on the button- and Khan went down and completely out.

"[Khan's skills won't matter] against anyone who can punch. He has a huge amount of skill. He has a huge amount of speed, but he can't hold a shot against a big puncher. That's why against Canelo that was always going to happen. I followed that fight on Twitter, it was after the Crolla fight actually," Hearn told BoxingScene.com.

"I was in bed and just refreshing it - round 1, Amir Khan... round 2, another good round for Khan... I was just waiting for the one [punch] to come up. And then I refreshed and it was boom, wow. It was only a matter of time and I knew that would happen, and the same thing will happen when he fights Kell Brook. But he ain't gonna fight Kell Brook, because he couldn't live with himself knowing that Kell Brook had knocked him out."

"And that's the bottom line. He would have made more money for that fight [with Brook] than he made for the Canelo fight, and it was for the world welterweight title. When are people going to wake up and realize ..... why would he not fight Kell Brook? Not for the money. Not because it's not a world title fight, because it is. Not because it's a fight that people won't be interested in, because its one of the biggest fights in Britain." 

"The only answer is - he doesn't want to lose to Kell Brook. He can lose to Canelo and people will say 'well done mate, you jumped up two weight classes, what a guy.' But the fact is, you get knocked out like - you will never be the same and he's not gonna be the same. And he's never been the same after every time he's been knocked out."

Hearn explained that Khan's handlers have been keeping him away from any fighter with a decent punch. He expects Khan to get knocked out again - if matched against a legit puncher.

"Look at the guys he's fought since getting knocked out by Danny Garcia.... Carlos Molina, a lightweight. Devon Alexander, totally at the end of his career.. he just got beat by a 20-1 [underdog] shot in his last fight. Algieri, a non-puncher. Collazo, another guy who's a non-puncher. Diaz, who's a non-puncher and a lightweight and he knocked Khan down in Sheffield. Whenever he steps up against a puncher, he gets knocked out," Hearn said.