Kell Brook expects Manny Pacquiao to win back the WBO world welterweight title on Saturday and hopes they can meet in a 2017 unification fight.
Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs) challenges Jessie Vargas for the belt he lost when he was unanimously out-pointed by Floyd Mayweather Jr in boxing’s richest ever fight in May 2015.
Filipino Pacquiao, 37, now combines a political career with boxing and will put himself in the frame for a bigger bout if he defeats Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Brook (36-1, 25 KOs), the IBF world welterweight champion, is recovering from a broken eye socket sustained in a fifth-round defeat to middleweight No. 1 Gennady Golovkin last September. But he has been looking ahead to next year.
“Of course I would be interested in the winner [of Pacquiao-Vargas],” Brook told ESPN.
“All the fans were saying I didn’t fancy fighting the best fighters, but I have gone in there with the best in the world in Golovkin, and I’m ready to do it again.
“I’m after the biggest and best fights out there, those are the ones that are going to get me up for it.
“Once you have become world champion, you need special fights to really keep you motivated in training. A world title unification fight would do that.
“I see Vargas getting some success, but I just think with Pacquiao’s experience, having been in with the better opponents, he’s going to have too much.
“But I don’t see Pacquiao stopping him — he’ll win on points. He’s had a lot of time out: is his passion still there? It could catch up with you at that age, so he’s got to be careful, and that makes the fight interesting.
“Vargas is a good fighter — he’s a world champion — but he’s not the best out there. There’s not massive margins at this level, but I don’t think he’s in the super league with the likes of Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia and myself.
“Unless he shows us something I’ve not see before, I don’t see him winning.”
