by James Le Blanc: While everyone was anointing Amir Khan as Floyd Mayweather Jr’s next opponent in May I just couldn’t see it. In the UK they were even spreading reports that the fight was a done deal. While I am a Khan fan I still knew that Khan had not looked impressive in his recent bouts, in his last 4 bouts he lost, got knocked out, got dropped, and got one stoppage. His last two opponents were relatively unknown. Then you had these welterweight bouts all coming at the end of the year, and to me all of them were auditions.
This is when the inexplicable happened, Amir Khan backed out of the Devon Alexander fight, you know the one where Shawn Porter replaced him and took Devon’s belt. I couldn’t believe Khan would make such a terrible move. Beat up Devon, look impressive, and take his belt all would have helped him in the Mayweather sweepstakes but people in Khans corner didn’t want the fight for him because it was too risky. I thought to myself how is a fight with Devon too risky, he’s a paper champ if I ever saw one who’s main defensive tactic is to grab his opponent and hold on to them for 12 long rounds. Khan made a decision that cost him the fight he wanted the most.
In a recent interview with FightHype, Mayweather discusses his friend Broner’s loss and brings a lot of perspective to the table in regards to all the back lash Broner has been receiving. Whether he deserved the back lash or not he certainly walked home with a loss and a 7 figure pay day. Maidana on the other hand walked away with one of the most impressive victories of his career. Seriously Maidana looked the best I have ever seen him and Im not sure Robert Garcia is getting enough credit for the job he has done with Maidana. They pressured Broner, rocked him multiple times, dropped him twice, and basically beat him up for 12 rounds.
Up until now Floyd would not hint at who is next opponent would be. He would mention Manny Pacquiao because that is a name he will have to answer questions for in interviews for the rest of his life and he mentioned Amir Khan because the rumors were so strongly indicating that the fight was a done deal. But Maidana, with such an incredible performance, a welterweight title, forced Floyd to not only mention his name, but also indicate that he is a possible opponent.
“Absolutely! Yes, Maidana’s name is now in the lottery jackpot”-Floyd Mayweather
Why does this make sense for Floyd. For one let’s look at the pattern, all recent Mayweather opponents have come off of spectacular wins. With Canelo it was Trout, with Guerrero it was Berto, with Cotto it was Margarito, with Ortiz it was Berto, with Mosely it was Margarito, with Marquez it was Diaz. Who did Amir Khan fight recently…..?…..exactly! Another reason this fight makes sense is because soon Mayweather will have to cough up his WBC title as they have recently named Manny Pacquiao as his mandatory challenger. This fight will not happen any time soon and Floyd has already mentioned that he is content with coughing up the belt.
Let’s face it, Khan was never a good idea, I wanted to see Amir Khan fight Floyd really bad back in the day when he was pummeling through the 140lb division giving you exciting fight after exciting fight but his stock has dropped drastically. Amir Khan made the decision to remove himself from the late year auditions and it will cost him. Broner has said he wants an immediate rematch but let’s face it, with no rematch clause for Broner to exercise and the fact that we all probably know, Broner really doesn’t want that beat down again the rematch is very unlikely. Mayweather vs Maidana makes economical sense. The story lines to promote the fight practically write themselves and one other thing, Maidana is a credible opponent. So mark your calendars and lets hope Goldenboy is able to stack the undercard with more exciting fights like Deontay Wilder, or a Khan vs Garcia rematch.
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