Khan wants Pacquiao first, says ‘Brook will wait’

Amir Khan has a couple of potential big options out there for a much-desired stadium fight in the United Kingdom, but the star fighter says that he’s focused on one man over another, as he’s clearly favoring a fight with Manny Pacquiao opposed to one with Kell Brook.

From Sky:

“We don’t know what Manny Pacquiao has got left in his career, how much time he’s got left in him, but if I’ve got that opportunity to take that fight, and have it next, I’m going to grab it with both hands. Me and Kell are only a year difference in age, and he’s still an active fighter, whereas Manny Pacquiao is 39, and maybe talks of him retiring. Now with Kell Brook, I know he wants the fight as much as I want the fight, so he’s going to wait around for that fight, and he’s going to be there for that fight.”

Khan (33-4, 20 KO) actually makes plenty of sense here. Pacquiao (60-7-2, 39 KO) is at the point where any fight could be his last, as he turns 40 in December and has a lot of other responsibilities with his political career in the Philippines.

And internationally, it’s simply a bigger fight than one with Brook (37-2, 26 KO). And Brook, like Khan says, probably will just wait for the fight if it doesn’t come next. Promoter Eddie Hearn is saying it’s “now or never,” but promoters say lots of stuff to sell the importance of fights. (And of course Eddie would probably prefer Khan-Brook to Pacquiao-Khan. He promotes Brook and Khan both.)

So we’ll see what happens, but Khan obviously wants to fight Pacquiao. If he doesn’t, though, Brook is a great Plan B as far as having a big fight goes.