Mayweather vs. Amir Khan would be “A Mere Con”

By Boxing News - 01/20/2014 - Comments

khan904By Chester Rivers: Who among us feel Amir Khan deserves a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.? The fight is not yet official and the talking heads are already rolling the propaganda spin machine in an attempt to draw interest in this fight.

Showtime analyst Steve Farhood said in an interview with Hustle Boss Amir Khan is a tough match-up for Mayweather due to his height, length, speed and agility. Farhood went on to say that Khan’s hand speed and style is reminiscent of Oscar De la Hoya and he feels that Khan would try and build from the “blueprint” De La Hoya crafted for his 2007 split decision loss to Mayweather.

After reading Mr Farhood’s interview my only response was “Really Mr. Farhood, Really!” After doing a fact check of Steve Farhood’s claim here’s what I found.

First, Khan does enjoy a two inch height advantage at 5’10” but Mayweather has the longer reach of 72″ to Khan’s 71″. As for his claim of Khan’s speed, Amir is fast but he always get hit by much slower opponents i.e. Maidana, Peterson and Diaz. Thirdly, the blueprint referenced calls for constant jab. Amir mostly paws with the jab rather than snapping it [jab] which allows his opponents to counter punch. Khan was knocked out twice by left hooks after jabbing and one of Floyd’s most effective punches is the check left hook. As for Mayweather’s lack of power, this is a misconception because of his knockout rate against welterweights. It’s no secret that Floyd has hand problems but against smaller fighter moving up i.e. Hatton and Marquez, Floyd scored knock downs and a knockout.

The truth is, Mayweather has made a career taking fights with little risk and big rewards and Amir Khan is the most popular welterweight under the Golden Boy banner that poses the smallest risk. The most impressive win of Khan’s career is a unanimous victory over Marcos Maidana. Many fail to realize in that fight 2 of the 3 judges scored the fight 114-111 and the third 113-112. Why is this significant? Because the difference in the fight was a first round knockdown suffered by Maidana and a 1 point deduction in the fifth round also suffered by Maidana. This could have been a four point turn around which means a unanimous decision for Maidana.

There are many other fighters in the division that deserve this shot more than Khan. Timothy Bradley is the most deserving but his head first style maybe too risky.Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman doesn’t have the name recognition. And there’s still that Filipino fighter whose name escapes me (wink, wink) I’ll leave this one alone.
Floyd has made a lot of money marketing himself as an undefeated fighter but his unwillingness to jeopardize his undefeated mark by not taking the risky fights the fans want to see may cost him a lot more in the end and that’s way a fight with Amir Khan would be “A mere Con”.



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