By Edward Chaykovsky
Former world champion Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) has two big fights in mind for 2017.
Khan has been out of the ring since May, when he moved up to a catch-weight of 155-pounds to challenge Saul "Canelo" Alvarez for the WBC middleweight championship at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Khan, who started well in the early rounds, was knocked out cold in the sixth round.
A few weeks after that fight, Khan had two surgeries on his right hand to correct an old lingering injury. The right hand is healed up and he's ready to get back into the ring.
The big fight on Khan's list is a blockbuster showdown with Sheffield’s Kell Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) in the summer.
Brook holds the IBF welterweight world title and it remains to be seen how he will deal with his mandatory obligation against Errol Spence. The sanctioning body gave him until February to make up his mind, or the IBF will strip of him of the belt.
If WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia does not go through with his scheduled unification with WBA champion Keith Thurman on March 4 - Khan, who is the mandatory challenger to the WBC Belt, will go after him.
“I want to be back in the ring around April time and then again at the end of the year. I had the hand operation and it feels brand new. I can’t wait to get in the ring at 147 again, which is my weight division. I think these next few years are going to be my best," Khan told Bolton News.
“I have been on a downer since the last fight with the injury and all that. Now I cannot wait to get back in training with my trainer Virgil (Hunter). I need to make sure the fight is right for me. I am one of those guys who will go in with anyone and it may be my downfall sometimes."
"I want Garcia but won’t be able to do that in April as he is down to have his unification fight in March. If he doesn’t then I will jump at that. I am going back down to 147 and still have that position as number one mandatory. But I think that (Kell Brook) will be the next big fight for me. It would be massive – a super fight.”
