Will Khan vacate WBA title? What will Amir do then?
January 9th, 2010
By Peter Wells: It’s looking like like World Boxing Association Light Welterweight champion of the world Amir Khan will be forced to fight Marcos Maidana the WBA Interim champion. Khan was happy at first to take on Maidana, but his trainer Freddie Roach is sounding less than enthusiastic about the fight.
If Amir let’s go of his belt then Maidana will take on Victor Cayo for the vacant title. Roach might feel Amir isn’t ready for that step up yet, but what will he do in the mean time.
Unless Khan fights these kinds of fighters, he may not progress as a fighter, and when he jumps in with the big boys, he could have problems and might end up being destroyed. Many boxing fans will say Khan is running from the big boys, and he’s scared of Maidana, but it’s simply he might not be ready yet – or is more interested in getting a more notable opponent for nice payday – and maybe Roach needs to spend more time with Pacquiao.
Tags: 19 Responses to “Will Khan vacate WBA title? What will Amir do then?”
Leave a Reply
please use above banner to link back to us!
(might not be ready yet) why the hell not, they have similar rec’s
Lets just see if Khan does take the fight if he does alot of ppl will have to agree he has stepped up the quality of his opposition – how he handles them…………we shall see
If Marcos Maidana were another aging boxing legend. Amere Con would not duck him. Amere Con would fight him with his cheating headbutt tactics. Anybody can beat a boxer who is at the end of their career, who was also previously retired, with their cheating headbutt tactics. Just because Amere Con did that does not make him great. Amere Con is just a fraud and a coward.
10.01.10 @ 03:25:12
Asif,have a look at Salita fight record and see the quality of opponent he had fought to get 30,0,0 before fighting Khan as i said i watch boxing on world wide basis not because he’s one of your back yard boys .
Khan should fight quality fighters like maidana, victoe ortiz, juan urango, bradley.filipino phenom gilbert manuel with undefeated record of 17-0-13 Ko,khan will be tested against these fighters.
You’re rite david no boxer should be allowed to vacate a title because the fight he is asked to fight isn’t to his liking at the end of the day if you hold the title you’re deemed to be the best in the world which means you should be ready to accept any challenge, but a lot of people come and start talking about Khan having a suspect chin, and not being able to win this fight etc just annoying cos any true boxing fan will appreciate the fact Khan can win this fight, however there is no disputing Maidana could take him out cold as well…but people are too one sided in there opinion of Khan…to be honest it sums up the British media mentality…they want a world champion with the potential of greatness then knock him down at the first opportunity instead of supporting the guy…i personally don’t think any other British boxer at Khan’s age has had the potential that Khan has, not Hatton, Calzaghe and definitely not Froch but thats just my personal opinion
rubbish article there peter, amir is taking maidana on asap, and will knock maidana out
John,e couldn’t agree more. As far as the race thing goes this is a guy that says he has little or no fans in the uk as a result of race hate. Khan ” I would be massive if I were white” what kind if statement is that to make let’s flip that on it’s head if I were to say ” Amir no one likes you in the uk as a result of your race that would be deemed as racist. As far as him putting up his belt this is no shock to me. I have never been a Khan fan but give praise where it’s due roach has worked wonders on him i’m not questioning his ability to box I’m questioning his integrity as a so called “CHAMP” put up or shut up these are the type of fights fans want to see someone take a chance not a one side White wash. If he doesn’t fight madina then he is a sham and I’m am dissapointed that he is a UK “CHAMP” if he does fight he would gain more fans I for one would give him more respect
Dave Robinson – Interesting point about fighters signing up to a sanctioning body when they go pro. I worry that may lead to a situation that existed in darts where the best players couldnt compete because they were in seperate organisations. Maybe a solution would be to create an independent top-flight rankings system which organising bodies would have to respect and work with to preserve credibility. The Ring Magazine rankings and belts mare a step in the right direction but are flawed because De La Hoya owns them and also has interests in Golden Boy… Ideally there would be one world championship belt but all of these are businesses and so wont just dissapear. It’s a tricky one and needs to be addressed because it affects the public perception of the sport. WBF – WTF!?! etc…
Best wishes,
R
Khan is a great prospect….. I wish everybody would give the guy a break!
I think it will be a farce if Khan doesn’t take the Maidana fight. Since he’s now a major world title holder, the question of whether he’s ‘ready’ shouldn’t be relevant. Khan’s had a fast-track to the title and a completely mismatched 1st defence; it’s time for him to start making a legacy.
Also, after having watched Maidana-Ortiz, I see no reason why Khan shouldn’t be optimistic going into the fight. The reason the fight was such a spectacle was because both fighters were poor defensively and were fighting with heart rather than skill. If Khan showed the same composure, dynamism and evasiveness that he had against Kotelnik, he’d comfortably outpoint the resiliant Argentine (not to mention Maidana lost to Kotelnik). So enough protecting Amir! He’s a big boy now – a champion – and should be capable of handling worthy contenders (though let’s not get carried away with talk of Hatton, Marquez and Pacquiao).
He’s world champion a multi millionaire, he say he going to be a legend his words nobody else’s,the vast amount of supporter on here support him because he one of there own!! well thats fine, my self i don’t care if he black white brown or sky blue pink as long as he step up to plate and wonts to fight the best out there i’ve criticise Khan for his stage manage career by side stepping the domestic and Europeans fights but he’s got his world tile now so its time to put up or shut up,i’ve criticise mayweather for cherry picking as well as calzaghe for the same reason theres no race issues here i love naz he was great for british boxing,so if Khan is to young because he only 23 as they keep yakking on about on here then he should not have had a world title shot in the first place,people are not going to keep paying good money to see him fighing bums like Salita!!!!end of
Rameez you’re wrong. We are NOT saying he isn’t ready and to his credit nor is he. We are questioning the rights for a fighter to vacate because his manager and promoter dont think he is. It alone makes a mockery of a governing bodies title. He’s the champ and should be made to defend it against Maidana or face being left out in the cold by the WBA for an indefinite period of time.
I personally think if he can keep his defence solid, his blistering hand speed (and it is phenomenal, don’t get that twisted) should see him win. But its a shame when the money men decide otherwise. That is the issue. NOT Khan himself
kahn might not be ready yet or scared but if he dont fight someone like maidaina or marquez or a big name bhe could live to reget this decision but of course roach is controling everything
people r all going on about khan vacating his title because he isn’t ready etc but I think its all wrong…Maidana is a hard hitter but technically a poor fighter, I think Khan is more than capable of beating Maidana…people say Khan has a suspect chin, however when he fought Prescott he made a stupid error of trying to go toe to toe and bang him out, but with your guard down and getting hit full on as Khan did, anyone would have been knocked out. I’m not saying Khan doesn’t have a brittle chin, the fact is we don’t know yet, the one knock out he had was bad defence and poor balance which left him completely open to be hammered which he was, but do you really think that would happen again. Khan has improved majorly over the last year and even if his opponents have been not great, the fact remains his technique was not, he didn’t get caught and landed his own shots. Yes Maidana could knock Khan out and yes its a dangerous fight, but Khan could also knock him out and that’s what people forget. Roach trains the Pacman and look at all the obstacles he’s overcome, I admit Pacman is in a totally different league but if it’s one thing people should realise, anything is possible in the ring so I don’t think Khan should duck this fight because i know for a fact he has all the tools to beat Maidana, he has the speed, the power and the coach to dispatch Maidana…whether or not he will remains to be seen
hitraining your missing the point. Right now he is representing the WBA body for the entire LWW division. He makes a mockery of the respected WBA by vacating. The WBA should set an example and if he vacates, ban him from fighting for their champ belt for a set period.
Its not down to Roach who Khan should fight if he holds a title.
if he’s not ready yet then he shouldnt be holding the world title should he. what a farce this has turned into, if he doesnt fight maidana he will never live it down. the proof that roach believes in khan and that khan believes in himself is to accept the fight.
otherwise everything they say is just hype, nothing more.
Agreed Alan Wells.
If you become a champ you shouldn’t be able to vacate because you are not ready. Vacating to move up legitimately to further your career such as Calzaghe etc is one thing, but to disrupt a division by moving up then vacating as soon as a credible opponent is matched against you, makes a mockery out of boxing and such fighters should be banned from fighting for a title with any of the major bodies.
I wonder if there is a concept out there whereby you sign with a body when you go pro and remain within that body until you become champ. It would ensure the integrity of champs and gradually cause complete unification within each division.
It is only right that Khan is forced to fight Marcos Maidana. It is the governing bodies of the respective titles WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO who have done this thing to force this fight to happen so that they can obviously unify all the belts and have the one true champion at Light- welterweight as otherwise Khan will have to relinquish his WBA Light- welterweight title and that wont look good on Khan’s camp.
You cant continue to hand pick your opponents when your a world champion as the boxing governing bodies can say who rightfully should fight who. It wont look good if Khan does not take this fight with Maidana thats if he believes he is so good. The public and media around the world will now see what the Khan camp decide . Khan has many critics around the world because all his fights have been hand picked and the paying public are not seeing him fight the boxers at their prime so all us fans are not getting real value for money just getting conned. The other reason why khan is criticised even by fellow boxers carl froch is that he has not gone through a legitimate route to the world title like all other boxers have had to. Khan has had the easiest and quickest route to the world title but the bottom question is Khan a fake and until he fights the best he will always be criticised or just retire .