Kell Brook to fight on Dec 8, then face Amir Khan in Feb. or Mar.

Boxingnews24.com

By Tim Royner: Kell Brook will be fighting on December 8 in a tune-up fight to get him ready for a mega-fight against Amir Khan in February or March, according to their promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing. Khan-Brook still isn’t a done deal for February or March.

The negotiations between Khan (33-4, 20 KOs) and Brook could come down to whether Brook will agree to both the 147 pound weight limit along with a 10 pound rehydration clause to keep Kell from ballooning up to 170+ on the day of the fight.

Khan says Brook (37-2, 26 KOs) agreed to the 10 lb rehydration limit this week, but it doesn’t appear that’s the case. Brook spoke out after Khan had made the announcement about the rehydration clause, and he seemed to indicate that wasn’t the case that he was on board with it.

Khan’s desire to have the Brook fight at 147 is in response to his bad knockout loss to Sa Canelo Alvarez in 2016 when he fought him at a catchweight of 155 pounds. Brook would be dangerous for Khan if he were to fight him at 154. Khan isn’t a natural welterweight, and he doesn’t belong at 154. On fight night, Khan will likely weigh around 157. If Brook rehydrates to 170+, he would have at least a 13 lb weight advantage and that might be too much weight.

“Brook may run out on Dec. 8,” Hearn said to ESPN.com. “We’re talking about it, but the rehydration clause is not agreed to yet.”

Brook not agreeing to the 10-pound rehydration clause may cause the fight negotiations to implode. Khan doesn’t want to be outweighed by 15 to 20 pounds by Brook on the night. If Brook comes into the fight in the 170 to 175 lb range, Khan isn’t going to have much chance at all whatsoever of winning the fight. Brook can’t be that heavy if the fight is to be a fair one. Khan is only looking out for himself after being badly outweighed in his 6th round knockout loss to Canelo Alvarez in 2016. Khan estimates that Canelo weighed 185 lbs after he rehydrated for the fight, and he was simply too big for him.

It’s pretty important for Brook to get a second fight in for December 8, as he’s fought only once this year in March in stopping Sergey Rabchenko in the 2nd round. Brook fought only once in 2017 in losing to Errol Spence Jr. by an 11th round knockout, and it wouldn’t be good if he fights only once in 2018.

Not fighting frequently could hurt the Khan vs. Brook promotion, as neither guy has been all that active for the last couple of years, and the fight is already seen as a match between washed up fighters. There are a lot of older fans that remember how good Khan and Brook were in their prime, but it’s been such a long time since the two have beaten quality fighters.

Khan’s last win over a good welterweight was back in 2015 when he beat Chris Algieri. Since then, Khan has been knocked out by Saul Canelo Alvarez in the 6th round in 2016, and beaten Samuel Vargas and Phil Lo Greco.

Brook has a hard time making the 147 lb limit, and he’s been having a hard time at that weight. Brook, 32, doesn’t really belong at 154 either with the lions like Erislandy Lara, Jarrett Hurd and Jermell Charlo. Hearn hasn’t been in a hurry to match Brook against any of those guys, and it’s likely he’ll just retire after his cash out fight against Khan in February or March rather than risking injury facing Hurd, Charlo or Lara.

Brook has been dealing eye problems since 2016. He suffered a bad left eye injury in his loss to Gennady Golovkin in September 2016. A year later, Brook suffered a second eye injury, this time to his right eye in an 11th round knockout loss to Errol Spence Jr. What those fights showed is Brook’s eyes are becoming increasingly fragile and they’re not holding up to the pounding he’s been taking since he stepped it up against better competition. It wasn’t a problem when Brook was facing lesser opposition like Kevin Bizier, Frankie Gavin and Jo Jo Dan.

Brook said this on social media in mocking Khan’s request for him to agree to a 10 pound rehydration clause for the fight:

“Please Mr. Brook don’t rehydrate and hurt me. This DIVA still thinks he’s a celebrity and in the jungle rationing what I can eat. I’ll weigh in at 147, and then eat whatever I like.

Khan says that Brook already is on board with the rehydration clause of 10 pounds. Brook agreeing to the rehydration limit would set himself up for big time trouble. Although fighters that fight for the IBF titles agree to a similar 10 pound rehydration limit, it worked out negatively for Brook in his fight against Errol Spence Jr. last year.

Khan said this to skysports.com about Brook having agreed to the rehydration clause. It’s unclear why Khan would say that Brook has agreed to it when he’s saying the opposite. Did Brook agree to the weight class and thenchange his mind or is Khan pulling everyone’s leg by saying that that Brook has agreed to the rehydration limit when in fact he hasn’t.

“Nothing can stop it. He’s agreed to be 147, and also have a rehydration clause of 10 pounds. I’m happy with that”

Khan wanted to fight Manny Pacquiao, but the Filipino star is going in another direction towards a rematch against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2019. Khan thought he had a chance to fight Manny, but the Filipino star chose not to make the fight. There’s more money for Pacquiao to fight Mayweather a second time. Khan will have to settle for a fight against Pacquiao to make good money. Khan needs a win over Brook to keep his career alive. It’s not a good sign that Khan was badly hurt in his last fight against fringe contender Samuel Vargas last September. Khan won the fight by a 12 round decision, but Vargas had him in trouble a couple of times. Khan pulled through it to get the victory, but it was worrisome that he struggled against such a low level fighter.