What is Amir Khan doing?

By Boxing News - 03/01/2013 - Comments

khan2342By Mark Havey: This week Amir Khan announced that his next fight will be staged in Britain and will be against the veteran Julio Diaz. Diaz is the former IBF lightweight champion. After hearing the news of this fight, I had one question, why?

I have nothing against Diaz. In fact I was once a big fan of his, but that was 6 or 7 years ago. Since then he has gone massively downhill and hasn’t had any elite fights recently. 2 years ago Kendall Holt stopped Diaz in 3 rounds. So what does Khan have to gain?

I don’t really understand the thinking of team Khan. At a time when they should be proving his claim as a world class fighter, they are doing the opposite. I don’t know if it is greed or fear, but there are better fights out there that are not being made. I have believed for a long time that Khan and his team avoid dangerous fights by offering low money. The result is that the prospective opponent turns them down and is so offended refuses to deal with them. Khan then tells the world that people have refused to fight him, as illustrated recently when he claimed Jaun Manuel Marquez doesn’t want to fight him. Could it be that Marquez just doesn’t want to fight for challenger money. It started with Timothy Bradley. Khan wouldn’t win that fight and made an offer that was low. Not only was Bradley so offended he turn it down but flat out refused to face Khan, ever. This resulted in him losing his title.

Of course Fighters like Diaz will fight for challenger money. But they end up fighting just for the pay day. They don’t try to win. When Khan faced Molina I was one of the few writers that thought it was a good move. I didn’t agree with Khan pretending it was a tough fight. In reality it was a confidence fight. But I thought that was what he needed. But how many confidence fights does Khan need. Khan is a fighter so I find it hard to believe that his self belief has been so battered that he needs to fight Diaz. If it has he should just retire. If Khan wants to hang up his gloves in 2 years he needs to get a move on. At this rate Khan will have been a very forgettable former champion. Those who do remember him will do so for his loses. This is a shame as Khan is full of talent and could go far. His chin isn’t weak as people have claimed. If it was he would be knocked out by light punches. Each time he has been down it has been the result of thunderous punches.



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