By Edward Chaykovsky
Earlier this year, there were serious negotiations to stage a huge domestic showdown between Amir Khan and IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook.
Their discussions were pushed back, because Khan was very firm with his request to do a tune-up bout. Khan has been out of the ring since May 2016, when he suffered a brutal sixth round knockout at the hands of Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.
After that fight, Khan had two surgical procedures to correct an old injury to his right hand. Because of the serious nature of the procedures involved, Khan wanted at least one tune-up to test out his right hand.
Brook's promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom, was very surprised when Khan announced that a deal had been reached to fight WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. The fight was initially announced for April 22 [April 23 in UAE] and has now been pushed back to May 19 [May 20 in UAE].
Hearn has serious doubts about Pacquiao-Khan actually happening.
"Amir Khan is rumoured to be taking on Manny Pacquiao," Hearn said to Daily Mail. "But I just can't see it happening. Amir didn't want to continue the negotiations for the Brook fight because he said he needed a warm up fight due to a hand injury - extremely flattering for Kell that Manny Pacquiao is that warm up fight."
With Khan out of the picture, Brook reached a deal to fight his mandatory challenger Errol Spence. That fight is going to happen in late May or early June. An official announcement is coming next week.
"Kell Brook is currently training hard in Fuerteventura and is already in great shape ahead of his hotly-anticipated defence of his IBF world title against Errol Spence. We have put an official request in to Sheffield Council to stage the bout at Bramall Lane on either May 27 or June 3 and we hope to make an official announcement next week. I believe this is the best fight in the division," Hearn said.
