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It’s not unexpected, and it’s also not yet officially official, but Amir Khan has reportedly told promoter Eddie Hearn that he’s choosing Terence Crawford over Kell Brook for his next fight.
The Crawford-Khan fight would come on April 20, likely in New York, on pay-per-view produced by ESPN and Top Rank.
Khan (33-4, 20 KO) returned from a two-year ring absence this past April, blitzing Phil Lo Greco in 39 seconds in the first fight of a new deal with Matchroom Boxing, one that was expected to culminate in a long-awaited showdown with Brook (38-2, 26 KO), who had returned in March with a tune-up win over Sergey Rabchenko, a second round knockout.
The pair were then booked for another set of tune-up type fights, with Khan facing Samuel Vargas in September and Brook eventually taking on Michael Zerafa in December. They both won, though neither was particularly impressive.
Khan first reportedly received a big money offer to face Crawford just days before the Brook-Zerafa fight. Crawford right now is a hot property with very limited options, as he’s promoted by Top Rank and the 147-pound division is largely owned at the top level by the Premier Boxing Champions crew, which includes Errol Spence Jr, Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia, Manny Pacquiao, and Adrien Broner.
In-house, Top Rank has Egidijus Kavaliauskas (21-0, 17 KO), a fighter who has, by the book, earned a shot at Crawford, but he has no real star power and it’s just not a matchup that excites anyone. There were reports of Crawford potentially facing aged former contender Luis Collazo in March, and those reports were met with indifference at best from media and fans.
So while Khan may seem like an “easy” win for Crawford, a top pound-for-pound contender right in his prime, whereas Khan is a very flawed fighter who is probably a bit past his, it really is probably the biggest fight that Crawford can make right now, and it makes sense that Khan would be approached very aggressively for the bout. In all reality, this is a borderline pay-per-view fight at best, but it’s a mega-fight compared to bouts with Kavaliauskas or Collazo.
Crawford-Khan is now expected to be officially announced later this month. Of course, this is early talk, so things can change, but right now that’s the story out there.