b>Scott Gilfoid: By now it’s clear that the UK’s Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) won’t be facing IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander in December like what was originally thought. Instead, Khan will sitting out the remainder of 2013 and will be waiting for a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 3rd next year, according to the Mirror. For the Mayweather fight, Khan could get anywhere from $6 million up to $10 million.
It was ambitious for Golden Boy Promotions and Khan to have been kicking around the idea of Khan fighting Alexander on December 7th, but it looks like they’ve figured it out that the risk was just too great for Khan to take such a dangerous fight. After all, this wouldn’t have been a sure thing for Khan, and I wouldn’t even go so far as to say it was a 50-50 fight.
I think Khan would have had a 40 percent chance of winning based on he looked in his last fight against Julio Diaz last April. It would have been a foolhardy thing for Khan to take the Alexander fight with there being so much to lose if he got beaten by him.
It wouldn’t just be just a loss for Khan; it would be the end of any chances for him to fight Mayweather because Floyd will be fighting only 4 more times. That’s enough time for Khan to redeem himself. Heck, Khan still hasn’t redeemed himself from his losses to Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson, because you can’t count his wins over Carlos Molina and Julio Diaz as Khan having redeemed himself, at least not with me. Golden Boy has been very careful with who they’ve matched Khan with since his loss to Danny Garcia, and now it looks like they’re not willing to take any chances at all by putting him in with anyone.
Khan will have to work out with trainer Virgil Hunter for months for him to be ready for Mayweather. If I was Khan, I would think about adding a second and maybe a third trainer because he’s going to need all the help he can get to keep from getting blown out of the water by Mayweather. I guess it doesn’t matter if Khan loses badly because the payday will be so big. He can lose and then disappear for a long time with the money that he’ll get from that fight.
For the past few months Khan has said that his hand speed would be the difference maker against Mayweather, but not too many people are taking him seriously. He does have hand speed, but it’s not about his speed. It’s about his ability to take a hard shot without hitting the canvas or staggering all around the ring.
Khan’s speed won’t matter if he can’t handle getting hit from Mayweather. That’s the whole issue here. Khan didn’t look good at all against Julio Diaz when he was getting hit, and that won’t be lost on Mayweather. By now he’s already noticed that Khan is a sucker for a left hook and that’s what we’ll likely be seeing a lot of from Mayweather in the Khan fight.