A RIB injury forced Kell Brook to withdraw from an October IBF welterweight defence against Diego Chaves. He wonโt be able to fight again until next year but he could go straight into a unification clash with WBO champ Tim Bradley.
โHe wonโt be ready until the end of January [or] February so weโll look to reschedule the Chaves fight or go straight into Bradley and a unificationโฆ Probably March/April here,โ promoter Eddie Hearn told Boxing News. โBradleyโs a very realistic fight, theyโre interested in the fight.
โHeโs fought all the top boys, heโs never been overpaid, heโd get a huge pay day for Brook but he will lose. So that might factor in, Rios for $1.9 million is a lot different from fighting Brook for $1.9 million.โ
Hope still remains that Brook could be matched with British rival Amir Khan. โI said to him, I donโt know how long Kell will be at welterweight, heโs got two or three more fights then weโll probably move up,โ Hearn said of his latest conversation with Amir. โYou canโt book Wembley and do a fight like that in March youโve got to do it now, itโs nearly December. So we talked about meeting up. I think he [Khan] is going to fight in January. Thatโs the feedback Iโm getting. Heโs started camp. Heโs not going to be fighting in April. I donโt think the Pacquiao fight happens away.โ
โWe need to move now. The bulk of the [Carl Frampton-Scott] Quigg fight was done in October and thatโs in February, the 27th, so really we need this wrapped up in December, by the end of December if weโre going to have a May or June fight,โ he continued. โI still think the Khan fight will happen next summer, if he fights in January. If he fights in April, itโs not going to happen.
โI look at the numbers for Brook to fight in America, itโs not appealing at all compared to what he could make for the fights over here, the Khan fight in particular. Thereโs $20 million in the pot for the Khan fight, as I said to Amir Khan.โ
A complication is that the IBF have made Kevin Bizier Brookโs mandatory challenger. Bizier has already lost twice to Brook victim Jo Jo Dan. โItโs not ideal but itโs the IBF. Their mandatories are out of control but at least if you become a mandatory youโre going to get your fight,โ Hearn reflected.