By Edward Chaykovsky
A few days ago, Amir Khan (31-4, 19KOs) issued a verbal push to his domestic rival, IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-0, 25KOs), to step up his level of competition.
Khan was in the ring last month when he got knocked out in six round by then WBC middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez. The Bolton fighter had moved up to a catch-weight of 155-pounds to take that contest.
He plans to move back to the welterweight division, where he still holds the mandatory position to World Boxing Council champion Danny Garcia, who knocked out Khan out in four rounds in 2012.
Brook has been chasing a fight with Khan for the last few years. Khan has no desire to face him - until Brook fights a better level of opponent. Brook's competition has been lackluster since capturing the title from Shawn Porter in 2014, but he's in play to step things up in September with a deal nearly complete for a unification showdown with WBO champion Jessie Vargas.
Khan made it clear that he feels Brook's competition is lacking and he refuses to fight him until the Sheffield fighter has a more impressive record of work.
“I’ve fought the best fighters in the world and still am fighting the best fighters in the world, I’m still the number one position for the best world titles in the world as well. But the thing with Kell Brook, I just think there’s no point because he’s not fighting the A-list fighters. I’m taking tough punishment fighting the best fighters in the world and Kell Brook’s fighting the easy guys," Khan told the Saima Ajram show on BBC.
"He wants to fight me, he wants to make big money, he wants to make easy money fighting me. So I’m not going to give him the opportunity. I just want him to prove himself and if he proves himself and fights even half of the fighters I’ve fought then I’ll take the fight. Why should I give him that opportunity when he doesn’t deserve it?”
Brook's promoter, Eddie Hearn, feels Khan is making more excuses to avoid the fight. He predicts a single outcome if they every meet - Brook by knockout. Hearn believes a knockout loss to Brook would effectively end Khan's career as a top fighter and likely force him to retire.
"He says he's got three or four fights left in him. Does that mean three or four times he's going to get knocked out? Because if he fights Kell Brook, he gets knocked out, and he knows that as well. We all know that," Hearn said.