Amir Khan: record, next fight and profile →
A deal could be reached this week for Kell Brook's next world title defence. The 35-fight unbeaten IBF World welterweight champion will face his mandatory challenger, Canada's Kevin Bizier (25-2, 17 KOs), early next year. A win for Brook could lead to a summer super-fight against fellow Brit and long time rival Amir Khan.
Chris Algieri was coming off two losses. But even though those defeats came against a pair of very recognizable names in Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan, he nevertheless needed a win over Erick Bone on Dec. 5 in order to remain in the running for fights with other recognizable names in the welterweight division. Algieri got the win, fighting in the trenches for a 10-round unanimous decision over his tough opponent and moving to 21-2 with 8 KOs. One name mentioned afterward by promoter Lou DiBella (who promoted the card while working with boxing adviser Al Haymon) was Andre Berto — DiBella thought “it would be a hell of a fight.”
Amir Khan and Bob Arum both celebrated birthdays on Tuesday. Bolton’s former light-welter champ turned 29 and Uncle Bob is still in there punching as pugnaciously as ever as one of the world’ great promoters at 84. However I doubt they exchanged birthday greetings. Khan is more than a little peeved that he looks like being elbowed out of a hoped-for spring date with Bob’s main man Manny Pacquiao, his old stablemate, while Uncle Bob himself wasn’t best pleased that Amir’s people erroneously jumped the gun by telling the media that contracts had been agreed.
Retired former super middleweight champion Carl Froch is picking Amir Khan to do a job on ex-sparring partner Manny Pacquiao - if the two of them ever face each other in the ring. Pacquiao was expected to announce his April 9th opponent last night, but held off on that decision until a later date. Industry insiders believe he will face WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley in a trilogy fight. Bradley is still viewed as the frontrunner, but Khan and undefeated WBO 140-pound champion Terence Crawford are the other two fighters in the running.
Former unified junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia (31-0, 17 KOs) is very interested in a rematch with his former rival, British fighter Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs). The collided on 2012 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Khan got off to a very fast star and swept the first two and a half rounds before getting clipped late in the third. He never fully recovered and suffered two more knockdowns in the fourth before the fight was waved off.
Promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport has a very good feeling about a deal being reached for a 2016 domestic super bout between IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (35-0, 24KOs) and his division rival Amir Khan (31-3, 19KOs). Khan was in the running to face Manny Pacquiao in April. There were some discussions and a deal never happened. It appears Pacquiao will select WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley on Friday. Top Rank promote both Pacquiao and Bradley.
Amir Khan (31-3, 19KOs) has denied that any recent negotiations have taken place for a summer showdown with domestic rival Kell Brook (35-0, 24KOs), who holds the IBF welterweight world title. Brook's promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom, was quoted as saying that a Khan-Brook showdown was possible for next May or June. Hearn already has a June date on hold at Wembley.
New York, NY - Former world champion Chris Algieri linked up with trainer John David Jackson after he was shut out versus Manny Pacquiao at the tail-end of 2014. The result was a valiant effort against Amir Khan this past May, when the New York native lost a twelve round decision. Now Algieri returns against Erick Bone this Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on the undercard of the middleweight showdown between Danny Jacobs and Peter Quillin.
As BoxingScene.com reported a few days ago, IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (35-0, 24KOs) will likely be forced to make a mandatory title defense in his upcoming return in early 2016. Brook's last mandatory defense was made when he knocked out Jo Jo Dan in four rounds on March 28th in Sheffield. He then made a voluntary defense in May with a sixth round TKO of Frankie Gavin.
NEW YORK - Daniel "The Miracle Man" Jacobs and Peter "Kid Chocolate" Quillin spoke to the media for the final time Thursday at a press conference in Manhattan before they enter the ring Saturday, Dec. 5, live on SHOWTIME® at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The middleweight title showdown headlines a SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® telecast that begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT with WBA Featherweight World Champion Jesus Cuellar battling Puerto Rico's Jonathan "Polvo" Oquendo. In action on SHO EXTREME (7 p.m. ET/PT), former world champion Chris Algieri faces Ecuador's Erick Bone and Staten Island's "Sir" Marcus Browne enters the ring against Francisco Sierra.