Khan says he wants Pacquiao and Brook after Lo Greco fight

Boxingnews24.com

By Tim Royner: Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) says he wants to fight Kell Brook and Manny Pacquiao after his April 21st comeback fight against Phil Lo Greco (28-3, 15 KOs). Khan says all the top welterweights in the division are mentioning his name for potential fights, and he wants to face all of them.

Besides Brook and Pacquiao, the 31-year-old Khan is interested in facing Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman, Danny Garcia and Jeff Horn. Khan isn’t mentioning wanting to fight Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford, so it’s unclear whether he’d like to face either of them.

Khan can’t afford to lose to the 33-year-old Lo Greco if he wants to stay on course for his fight with Brook later this year. Lo Greco and Khan are fighting on Sky Box Office at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. This will be Khan’s first action since losing to the much bigger Saul Canelo Alvarez in 2016. Khan was desperate for a big at the time he agreed to face Canelo. Khan got the fight, but he paid dearly for it by getting knocked for a loop in round 6.

“We’ve got super fights like Kell Brook, you’ve got Manny Pacquiao,” Khan said to Sky Sports News. ”The rematch with Danny Garcia. We’re also looking at Jeff Horn, and Keith Thurman is probably one of the best fighters in the welterweight division,” Khan said.

Brook is supposed to be a possibility for Khan to fight in December. There’s a great deal of anticipation in the UK for that fight among boxing fans. Khan and Brook must win their fights before then for it to be a highly profitable fight for both. Brook, 31, fights on March 3 against junior middleweight Sergey Rabchennko. The losses that Brook has suffered in his last 2 fight, you can’t assume that he’ll beat Rabchenko.

All these fighters want to fight Khan, but if he gets knocked out by Lo Greco or his opponent during the summer, then those fights are probably not going to happen. Khan is already perceived as damaged goods by a lot of boxing fans after his latest loss to Canelo. Khan never came back fully from his losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia.

Pacquiao, 39, would be a great fight if it were possible for Khan. It’s not unfortunately. Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum has plans only for him to fight only his Top Rank fighters for the remainder of 2018 with a fight against Mike Alvarado on April 14th, and then Vasyl Lomachenko in November. If Pacquiao doesn’t retire at the end of 2018, then it’s possible Arum would might consider matching him with Khan. But given that he didn’t make the fight in 2017 when Pacquiao was asking for the fight with Khan, it wouldn’t be good to hope too much for that particular match-up.

“My first move is to get past Lo Greco and then go on to bigger fights,” Khan said.

Khan’s promoter Eddie Hearn isn’t going to put him in with anyone dangerous before he faces Brook. There’s too much risk involved in matching Khan with Thurman, Danny Garcia or Pacquiao before he faces Brook.