By Keith Idec
Amir Khan is back to the business of using Twitter to antagonize targets for big fights.
The British star Tweeted a photo from the ongoing WBC convention in Hollywood, Florida, of he and Gennady Golovkin shaking hands. He added a message designed to draw a response from welterweight rival Kell Brook.
Khan’s Tweet states: The 1st man to smash kell brooks face @GGGboxing, standing with him is the next guy to smash Kelly brooks face! #ReadyWhenYouAre
A bout between London’s Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) and Bolton’s Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) would do huge business in the United Kingdom. Both boxers are coming off knockout losses in middleweight title fights to heavier, stronger opponents.
Brook is recovering from surgery to repair a fractured right eye socket sustained during his fifth-round technical knockout loss to Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) on September 10 at London’s O2 Arena. Brook moved up from welterweight to middleweight for that extremely difficult fight, but still owns the IBF welterweight title and could continue campaigning in that division.
The IBF has granted Brook a medical extension until late in February to determine whether he wants to make his overdue mandatory defense against Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs) or relinquish that 147-pound title. The 30-year-old Brook has acknowledged that it’s difficult for him to make 147 pounds these days and that he’s seriously considering booking his next fight at or around the junior middleweight limit of 154 pounds.
Khan, meanwhile, is seven months removed from being brutally knocked out by Canelo Alvarez. Though behind on two of the three scorecards, the 30-year-old Khan was holding his own against the heavily favored Mexican superstar before Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) drilled Khan with a devastating right hand that left Khan unconscious in the sixth round of their HBO Pay-Per-View bout May 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
