By Charles Brun: Kell Brook says he’s interested in facing unbeaten welterweight contender Conor Benn next should he defeat Amir Khan in their fight on February 19th. Benn’s promoter Eddie Hearn had recently been hoping to get Khan (34-5, 21 KOs) or former IBF welterweight champion Brook (39-3, 27 KOs), and instead, he settled for Chris Algieri.
Brook has got the power to hand Conor Benn the first loss of his career and do it embarrassingly. While Brook is now in his mid-30s, his power is still just as good as ever.
His punch resistance and ability to take shots without suffering injuries are missing. Twice in the last five years, Brook has suffered bad eye injuries in defeats against Gennady Golovkin, and Errol Spence Jr. Brook can dish out the punishment.
The money that the Sheffield native Brook can make fighting Benn would likely amount to more than what he’ll get for his fight against the past his best Khan, but it remains to be seen if he’ll get the fight.
Kell might unwittingly scare off Benn and Hearn if he looks too good in defeating Khan in February.
Brook can’t afford to look too good against Khan
For instance, if Brook obliterates Khan by a first round knockout, that could work against him getting the fight with Benn.
“Obviously, everybody and their dog is talking about it, and I’m just excited. I know that Conor Benn is banging the drum for some big fights,” said Kell Brook to TalkSport.
“This is why I love the sport; I love the challenge; he looked fantastic – sensational – in his last fight against Chris Algieri.
It’s common knowledge that Hearn is looking for well-known older fighters at the vulnerable stage of their careers. What Brook needs is a life & death type of fight with Khan to have a shot at getting a match with Benn.
Khan doesn’t need money
Hearn’s dream scenario would be for Khan to defeat Brook and then immediately agree to face Benn. Unfortunately, that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. Khan hasn’t shown the same eagerness to fight Benn as Brook. Of course, you can argue Khan’s massive $40 million net worth might have something to do with his reluctance to fight Benn.
If Khan’s net worth was only $3 million like that of Brook’s, it’s reasonable to assumable that he would have agreed to fight Benn ages ago.
Khan has faced fighters with more power and talent than Conor Benn before, and yeah, he’s been knocked out by them, but he made good money in these fights.
For Brook, 35, to remain in the picture as a viable future opponent for Benn, he needs to defeat Khan in their fight on Sky Box Office on February 19th at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Despite the Khan-Brook fight being ten years overdue, there’s still a high degree of interest from British boxing fans, but much less so for Americans, who see these guys as washed up and no longer relevant.
Benn destroyed the 37-year-old Algieri by a fourth round knockout on December 11th at the Manchester Arena.
However, the knowledgeable fans weren’t all that impressed with Benn’s victory because Algieri is a part-time boxer/commentator at this point in his career and considered over-the-hill. Indeed, Algieri’s career has been over since his loss to Khan in 2015.
Kell is willing to fight Conor Benn next
“We’ve [Conor Benn] sparred together, and we are excellent friends as well, but obviously this is a sport, and it’s about going out there to the boxing fans who pay and watch that I believe that I’m the best,” said Brook about him training with Benn.
“I believe that it would be a fantastic match-up, me and Benn.”
“End of the boxing, [gloves] to be hung up,” said Kell on him retiring if he loses to Khan.
It’s doubtful that Brook will lose to Khan because for him to lose, he would likely need to be knocked out.
Yeah, Khan can potentially knock Brook out if he sits down on his shots, but he’d be taking a significant risk for him to try and do that. Khan would need to sit down on his shots and be stationary.