By Ahad Khan: There has been a tremendous amount of speculation surrounding a Floyd Mayweather – Amir Khan fight scheduled for May 3rd in Las Vegas, Nevada on Showtime Pay-Per-View. Despite whether you think Khan deserves this fight or not, all signs point to the fight happening on May 3rd.
Both fighters are expected to fight again in May 2014 on Showtime and both are expected to make announcements regarding their opponent in the coming days.
Regardless of what some recent reports suggest, this fight has actually been a long time in the making. Of course, Khan has been calling out Mayweather since before he fought Zab Judah almost three years ago. Mayweather and his team, including trainers Roger and Floyd Snr., are very familiar with Khan and have been since he visited the Mayweather Boxing Club years ago. Mayweather has publicly responded to questions about a Khan fight since as early as 2011.
The fight was actually close to occurring around the time Khan fought Lamont Peterson in December 2011. Logic dictated that Khan would move up to the 147 lb. division after that fight and would be a potential opponent for Mayweather in May 2012, if he defeated Peterson. Instead, Khan lost a split decision in Peterson’s hometown, Washington, D.C. Khan wanted to avenge the loss and insisted on a rematch straight away. The rematch was scheduled for early 2012 before being cancelled last-minute after a positive drug test by Peterson. Khan needed a new opponent on short notice and scheduled undefeated challenger Danny Garcia for a bout in July 2012. We all know what happened next, with Garcia, a sizeable underdog, knocking Khan down in the 3rd and then out in the 4th.
Khan then swapped trainers from Freddie Roach to Virgil Hunter and rebounded with a win against over-matched Carlos Molina in December 2012. One final “rebound” fight was made for April 2013 against Julio Diaz in England while Mayweather chose to fight Robert Guerrero in May. Even after Khan looked very bad in a narrow unanimous decision victory against Diaz, his name was floated around by Golden Boy Promotions, along with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, for the September 14th Mayweather fight.
Khan then reached a tentative agreement to fight Devon Alexander in a match that would have taken place this past weekend. That fight fell through, however, accompanied by word that Khan had been offered a better fight. Khan entered training camp with Hunter shortly after and has presumably been training for a possible May fight with Floyd Mayweather, Jr. ever since. In addition, while Mayweather has remained on vacation, Khan has recently begun to make the media rounds to promote himself ahead of his upcoming fight.
The timing is certainly not the best for a Mayweather-Khan fight but all parties involved seem to want to make the fight now rather than potentially miss the final window of opportunity for the two to face each other. Despite Khan not deserving the fight in light of his recent performances, the match will undoubtedly be more successful than Mayweather’s 2013 fight against Robert Guerrero. Khan brings a noteworthy international fan base as well as media and sponsor money. The nature of the state of boxing dictates that there are plenty more “casual” fans than “hardcore” boxing fans. Casual fans pay money, especially when it comes to Floyd Mayweather, Jr. The fight is a tough sell with hardcore fans but has plenty of potential to draw in casual fans between now and May. Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather know that they can make fight profitable and that is the business of boxing.
Like it or not, all signs currently point to Amir Khan as Mayweather’s next opponent. Perhaps Golden Boy Promotions could set up a fight in early 2014 between Khan and Andre Berto to further qualify Khan for the Mayweather fight in the minds of some.
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